Catherine Eleanor McLeod

July 9, 1931 - January 29, 2025

Catherine “Tatty” McLeod, age 93, passed away peacefully on January 29, 2025. Tatty was born the elder of two daughters to her parents Donalda and Laurence Toole. She was followed a few years later by her dear sister Julianne.

Tatty was raised in Kenora and spent much of her youth and then her later years residing at the family home on Third Street South. Tatty was a proud Kenora girl but also spent some time following educational and musical pursuits in Toronto, Montreal and Winnipeg. She returned to Kenora and taught school where she was affectionately known as “Miss Toole” to her students.

Tatty loved music and leaves a musical legacy for Kenora. This is best known through her fifty plus year career as Director of the G Clef Choir and being the “musical matriarch” of St Alban’s Anglican Church. She also taught piano and voice lessons and was an enthusiastic and frequent attendee at local musical performances.

Tatty is predeceased by her parents and husband Don. She is survived by her loving son Donald (Korleen), sister Julianne and her beloved nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.

Tatty loved Kenora and Kenora loved Tatty. When husband Don would try to convince her to seek warmer respites during the cold winter months, Tatty would say “I am good here, you go”. She would then put on her fur coat and venture off to the church, choir practice, exercise class or if it was Friday night, Dino’s restaurant for their famous pea soup.

Though reticent at times to leave Kenora, Tatty still got her travel on. Her ocean liner trip to Scotland and Ireland with her cousins and friends in the Fifties, honeymoon and its sequel a year later in The Bahamas, trips with Don and Donald to Florida in the Seventies and Eighties, many Christmases in Calgary, visits to London to see Donald as well as her lifelong friend Betty in the Nineties, later cruises with Don to Alaska and the Eastern USA / Canada, rail and road trips with dear friends Flo and Do, and excursions to Alberta and Arizona with beloved friend Val are just some examples of her interest in travels beyond Kenora’s city limits.

Tatty deeply loved her family, friends, church and community and they loved her. Her loss will be felt but she leaves a legacy that continues on in the hearts of those who loved her. Tatty’s family is profoundly grateful for the friendship and care she received over the past years from her dear friend Val and over the past months from Lake of the Woods District Hospital, Wiigwas and Pinecrest. To all the dedicated professionals that cared for Mom, especially those on the frontline, words cannot express our appreciation and respect.

A Celebration of Life for Catherine will be held Saturday, February 8, 2025 at 1:00 pm at St. Alban's Cathedral, 312 Main St S, Kenora, ON P9N 1T2.

For those interested in a donation in Tatty’s memory, the Kenora Cat Shelter or It’s a Dog’s Life, would be fine choices given her love for animals and their love for her.