Doug McCaig

Doug was born on November 8th, 1936 to Jack and Aveline (Lowey) McCaig. Doug was the youngest of three children who grew up in a hardworking family with a love for the outdoors. Doug’s brother, Dave, and sister, Irene, were considerably older and were instrumental in his upbringing. His love for both of them was deep.

Doug loved his time spent on Rainy Lake beginning as a young boy working for the Lee family. Fishing and hunting trips were aplenty, but nothing was better than his hunts with his best friend, Larry Fontana, chasing deer around Swell Bay with his son, Rob, and grandson, Billy, and their hounds.

On April 16th, 1960, Doug married his high school sweetheart and love of his life, Joanne Chase. They lived a rich and full life together for over sixty years. Joanne helped instil a lifelong love and commitment to music in Doug, and encouraged him to hone his piano, guitar, and singing skills. He got pretty good and loved to entertain anyone who would listen. Christmas at the McCaig house was always a wonderful time full of music and joy that we loved to share with family and friends.

The family that Doug and Joanne raised was the center of their lives, especially when the grandkids started to come. Doug loved his children deeply and was proud of all three. His support was loving, consistent, and fierce if necessary. His love for his grandkids consumed a large part of his life as he ingrained himself in their lives as a mentor, and more importantly, a friend.

Over his lifetime, Dad had many accomplishments and loved new challenges. After beginning his work career as a mill electrician, he packed up his young family and moved to Toronto to pursue his teaching certification. Beginning his tenure at Fort Frances High School, was an important step in his career as an educator, a vocation that was always very important to Dad, and led him to many rewarding opportunities within the Fort Frances education system, and the many neighbouring First Nations communities during his leadership of the Rainy Lake Ojibwe Education Authority.

Doug’s education career coincided with a lengthy commitment to public service at the Municipal and Provincial levels. This began in the early seventies when he was elected to the Fort Frances Public Utilities Commission, an affiliation that lasted well over forty years. In the nineties, Doug served as the chairman of the Municipal Electric Association of Ontario. Doug also later served as a board member of Ontario Hydro and Chairman of Ontario’s Municipal Electrical Association Reciprocal Insurance Exchange (MEARIE).

Hockey was an important part of Doug’s life, especially as a coach. Doug was proud to coach the Muskies. The most important aspect of this job, for him, was making connections with the players and helping to impact their lives in a way that was more important, and went beyond, hockey. He believed he was an educator first and a coach second.

Doug is survived by his sister Irene (Joe) McKelvie, his three children, Mark (Krista) McCaig, Rob McCaig, and Patti Jo (Gord) McCaig, and son-in-law, Pete LeDrew. He is also survived by his grandchildren, Ashley (Reid) Fenwick, Katelyn (Frank) McCaig, Michael McCaig, Billy McCaig, Kassidy (Jeremy) LeDrew, and Hanna (Tarran) Ledrew, great Grandchildren, Emery and Lawson Fenwick, and Tanner and Sadie Redford. Doug is also survived by his sister-in-law, Marlene (Bo) Armstrong, Roman Hasiuk, and numerous nieces and nephews.

Doug was predeceased by his parents, wife Joanne, brother Dave, brother-in-law Joe McKelvie, sister-in-law Rena (Dave) McCaig, sister-in-law Barb (Dave) McCaig, brother-in-law Harold ‘Bo’(Marlene) Armstrong, sister-in-law Gerrine (Jack) Mott, brother-in-law Jack (Gerrine) Mott, sister-in-law Jane Dufresne, and nephew Vaughn (Kim) McCaig.

Funeral services are not planned at this time but a celebration of life will be scheduled sometime near summer. In lieu of flowers, donations would be appreciated to the Fort Frances Muskies Girls and Boys hockey teams.