Nora Ellen MacLeod

MacLEOD (Strickland), Nora Ellen (R.N., B.A.) — 79. It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Nora Ellen MacLeod (Strickland) on Monday, November 5th, 2012, in Dartmouth General Hospital, after a lengthy battle with Non-Hodgkins lymphoma. She was the daughter of the late Wilson and Mabel (Sweet) Strickland, the beloved wife of George MacLeod, the devoted mother of Alex MacLeod, Kim MacLeod and Cynthia MacLeod-McKeen, and the loving grandmother of Ashleigh and Samantha McKeen, Owen, Keeva, Conor and Maeve MacLeod and Rebecca and Lindsay Reid. Born in Neil's Harbour, Cape Breton, Nora was a remarkable woman, a loving and wonderful wife, mother, grandmother and friend , who will be sadly missed and forever loved. Following her high school graduation Nora entered Ottawa Civic Nursing School where she graduated with her R.N. designation. Nora practiced nursing at the Toronto General Hospital, Sydney Mines Hospital, Charlottetown Hospital, Nova Scotia Hospital and Victoria General Hospital. It was while working at Sydney Mines Hospital that she met her husband, George MacLeod at a dance at North Side Yacht Club in North Sydney. They were married in Toronto in 1956. George and Nora eventually settled in Dartmouth and made it their home. Three children followed. Nora was dedicated to her children, their extra-curricular activities and their education. Nora also continued to do some part-time nursing while their three children were young and eventually returned to full-time nursing when her children were independent. For the last 12 years of her career Nora nursed in the GI unit at QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax, a position which she enjoyed immensely and of which she had many fond memories. Nora went back to school in her middle age, completing a Bachelor of Arts with a major in history and a minor in Spanish, as well as a diploma in business and a certificate in gerontology, all from Mount Saint Vincent University. Nora enjoyed many hobbies, and loved gardening, playing bridge, playing the piano, knitting, cooking, baking, sewing and doting on her pets. Nora enjoyed her many trailering vacations in Eastern Canada and New England, and counted these holidays as some of her happiest times. Nora was involved in her community and served as president of the Dartmouth Toastmasters, president of her Woodlawn United Church UCW Marion MacDonald Unit, was on the pastoral care and outreach committees at Woodlawn United, taught Sunday school and also served on the Executive of Alderney Home and School. Nora enjoyed spending summers at her ancestral home in Neil's Harbour and also enjoyed visits with her extended family in St. Ann's Bay, Cape Breton. Nora was a person of unwavering faith and an individual for whom the glass was always half full. Most of all, Nora was a person who loved her family passionately and unconditionally. Besides her husband, George, her children Alex MacLeod (Helen Behan), Kim MacLeod (Jim Reid) and Cynthia MacLeod-McKeen (Dan McKeen), and her eight grandchildren, she is survived by her sisters-in-law, Eva Strickland, Kaye Smith, Angie MacLeod and brother-in-law, Allister MacLeod, and several nieces and nephews. Besides her parents, she was predeceased by her brothers, William, Goward, Richard and Nathan Strickland; brothers-in-law, Frank MacLeod and Donald Smith; nephew, Wesley Smith; and father and mother-in-law, Alec and Margaret (Buchanan) MacLeod. Special thanks are extended to Dr. Peggy Leighton, Dartmouth General Hospital nurses Jamie Wood, Odessa Bendel and Lori Osborne-Sanderson, the staff of Jamieson Hall, Parkland at the Lakes and a very special thank you to her VON nurses, in particular Caroline MacDonald, for their exceptional and loving care of Nora throughout her illness. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to A. L. Mattatall Funeral Home, 217 Portland St., Dartmouth. Service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, November 10th in Woodlawn United Church, Dartmouth. Reception to follow in the church hall and private family interment in Dartmouth Memorial Gardens will take place later in the day. Flowers from immediate family members only please. Donations may be made to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Nova Scotia or Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. On-line condolences may be sent to the family at: www.mattatallfuneralhome.com