Donald Marvin McPhail

September 13, 1932 ~ February 23, 2020

We are saddened to share that Donald M. McPhail passed away suddenly on February 23, 2020, at the Youville Care Home in St. Albert, Alberta. His family was always the centre of his life, and he leaves his sister Bernice Flood (Joe), his twin Doreen Smith (Bob), sister-in-law Muriel, his daughters Brenda (Tom) and Kerry, his beloved grandchildren James and Laura Onyshko and Stephanie and Mitchell Hayden, and many nieces and nephews who will miss him dearly. He was predeceased by his parents Ernest and Dorothy McPhail and his brothers Gordon and Robert.

Don was born in Rockglen, Saskatchewan, September 13, 1932, and grew up in Schreiber, Ontario and Carberry, Manitoba. He was a good student, with fond memories of school days. As an adult visiting Brenda in Toronto he reconnected with one of his early teachers, Ruth Bell, who enjoyed sharing stories about little Donnie with his daughter and grandkids much to their delight! Don followed in his father’s footsteps into the Bank of Montreal upon graduation, working his way up the ladder, and across Alberta in a series of positions in towns including Punnichy, Carnduff, Melville SK, Valleyview, Edmonton, Wainwright, Sundre, and ultimately Castor, AB, where he resigned from the bank after 32 years of service. He followed that up with a new career in retail, with a number of happy years working at Bell’s grocery store in Coronation. Don married Barbara Bowler in 1965, and the two daughters from that marriage were a source of pride and joy (sometimes his ability to talk about his kids was a source of embarrassment to them but a great pleasure to him). The only thing he enjoyed as much as his girls was his grandkids, and each baby in turn had the pleasure of napping draped over Grandpa Don’s tummy while he snoozed right along with them! He always said he had to live long enough for all of them to remember him, and they always will.

He remained close to his siblings all his life, and trips to Hawaii with his big brother Gord, to Nanaimo to visit Doreen and her husband Bob, to San Francisco to see brother Bobby, and a special adventure to revisit childhood memories in Schreiber with Bernice were lifetime highlights that he told stories about long afterwards. He called his sisters every Sunday, a tradition he kept up until hearing loss and the encroachment of dementia made it too difficult to manage regularly. While many details slipped away towards the end of his life, he always remembered his family and his face would light up every single time one of his kids or grandkids came to see him.

A Celebration of Don’s life will be held at Knox United Church 506 4 Street Castor, Alberta on Saturday, February 29, 2020 at 1:00 pm with Reverend Barbara Zimmerman officiating. Inurnment of her cremated remains will take place in Victoria, BC at a later date. He will be interred this summer with his parents and brother in Carberry, Manitoba. For those who wish, donations in Don’s name may be made to a charity of your choice or to his Masonic Lodge in Castor (Castor Masonic Temple Association, Box 1, Castor, AB, T0C 0X0). Dad loved being a member of the Masonic brotherhood, and supported the Lodge with his time and energy during his life and found friendship and support in return.