Please feel welcome to submit memories of departed Allisonians you have known and loved.

Jean C. (Allen) Black —1943
Marjorie (Jardine) Mortensen —1945
John R. Williamson —1945
Dr. Donald Roy Wiles —1946
Dr. J. Edwin Coffey —1948
Roy E. Gilroy —1949
Gordon R. MacCoy —1949
Mary R. (Douglas) McInnes —1949
Josephine D. (Cadenhead) Snyder —1949
James R. Taylor —1949
William (Bill) E. Turney —1952
Robert E. Adams —1955
Louis D. Johnston —1955
Judy A. (MacLean) Taylor —1955
Clarene D. (Avard) White —1955
Catherine (Kaye) E. (Tutty) Frampton —1956
Rev. Ronald Mahabir—1956
Lorna M. (MacMahon) Gillis —1957
James (Jim) W. MacNicoll —1958
Dr. John Sidney Roberts —1958
Marla F. (MacKenzie) Clark —1959
John C. Paterson —1959
Ian (Scotty) P. Thomson —1959
Ann E. (Ferguson) Howe —1960
Carolyn E.McLeanMcMullen —1960
Rev. Dr. Ronald W. Porter —1960
Cyril B. Carlin —1961
George E. MacManus —1961
Terry J. (Parker) Daughney —1962
Ruth E. (Latham) Pickle —1962
Dr. Charles W. MacNeil —1964
Douglas Miller —1964
Paula E. (Wester) Fowler —1965
Dr. David A. Sutherland —1965
Barbara Faye (MacLeod) Greenlaw —1965
Darrell Mesheau —1965
Barb M. (Munro) Schindel —1965
Janice E. (Ditmars) Bick —1967
Lynda M. (Peckham) Simms —1967
William G. Lea —1968
Elizabeth (Bette) A. (Silliphant) Sheen —1968
John A. McLaren —1969
Dr. Gregory L. Donald —1973
Graham Smyth —1975
William J. Cairns —1982
Shelley E. Thompson —1991
Aaron C. Berry —2004
Graeme W. Bousada —2011

Staff
Rev. Dr. Ronald W. Porter —1960

Friend
Mark R. Hunter
Barbara Ritchie

Honorary Degree
Dr. Christopher Pratt —1957, LLD 1972
Dr. Patrick Watson — 2002

Former Board of Regents
Bruce MacLeod Thomson — 1977

JAMES RENWICK TAYLOR (’49)
Submitted by Rae Blacklock (’51)

James ‘Jim’ was my childhood neighbour in Little Shemogue and lifelong friend. We both attended Mount Allison, Jim graduating with his BA and MA. He started his career in the ‘family business’ as a farmer in New Brunswick but soon found his voice as a producer and regional supervisor for the CBC. He began his journalism career in Ottawa, where he met his wife and best friend Elizabeth Van Every. The pair were together for 57 years and had two sons, Matthew and Gavin, and grandchildren Sophie and Charlotte.

Jim was in the first cohort to receive the prestigious Beaverbrook Scholarship, which enabled him to study at the University of London following Mount Allison. After earning his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, Jim was recruited by l’Université de Montreal and became the founder and long-time head of the school’s Department of Communication, which came to be known informally as ‘The Montreal School.’ He retired in 1999 as Professor Emeritus. Throughout his career in journalism and communications he served as an advisor on planning at the department of Communications Canada in Ottawa and was a board member of the Canadian Workplace Automation Research Centre, later the Center for Information Technology Innovation.

JESSIE CAMERON MACDONALD (’57)
Submitted by Martha MacDonald (’82)

Jess was a member of the Class of ’57, with Mount A connections long before and after her own years at the university. Two great-aunts attended the Ladies’ College, her father attended the Academy before carrying on to graduate from Mount A, and Jess’s daughter and two granddaughters carried on the family presence as recently as class of 2012 (Lucy Niles) and 2017 (Ellen Niles).

Jess’s great companion in all things Allisonian was her husband Bob (’55) and together they maintained a lifelong connection to Mount A, attending football games and supporting the Alumni Association, receiving the Charles Frederick Allison for their leadership.

Jess’s great delight was in her Mount A group of friends, and the presence of those women at their annual gatherings and at her memorial service is proof of the strength and meaning of what our university can bring to us all.

LYNDA (PECKHAM) SIMMS (’67)
Submitted by Joan (Jamieson) McDougall (’68)

Lynda arrived at Mt.Allison’s Palmer Hall in the fall of 1964 from Cape Breton,an excellent student who quickly made lifelong friendships. Best pals since Grade 1, she and I were delighted to find ourselves in the old basement infirmary, a large room where we could entertain all our new friends at once. It also had the luxury of ourown washroom and offered an easy window escape to the outdoors, should we be so inclined for fresh air. Of course, what happened in Palmer, has always stayed in Palmer!

Lyn was a freshie soph, majoring in history and she applied herself diligently to her studies. Blessed by both brains and beauty, she was a Winter Carnival Princess in 1966, but she will always be remembered for her kindness and empathy for others.

She planned to teach after Mt.A, but instead was hired in the marketing and new product development area of Bell. Her proudest moments included raising her three children, riding Sweetie her horse of almost 20 years, spoiling her Golden Retrievers and cats and finally, finding her second husband Richard, a fellow Maritimer. She first described himto me as “not a MTA’er but a UNB grad who she loved anyway.”

Lynda will be greatly missed, but fortunately she left us lots of wonderful memories to hold onto.

REV. KENNETH BAGNELL (’66)
Submitted by Andrea Crawford, Paul Bagnell, Barbara Bagnell, David Bagnell

Kenneth Bagnell — journalist, author, and minister of the United Church of Canada,died at the age of 87, on Feb.15, 2022 in Toronto.Ken graduated from Mount Allison in 1956, with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. He also obtained a Bachelor of Divinity at Pine Hill Divinity Hall, now the Atlantic School of Theology, in Halifax in 1958.

Ken wrote the bestselling book The Little Immigrants: The Orphans Who Came to Canada, a story of children brought from Britain to Canada from 1869 to the early 1930s. He also wrote Canadese: A Portrait of the Italian Canadians.

He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Barbara (néeRobar), three children, Paul (Diana Cafazzo); David (Carolyn Swift) and Andrea Crawford (Phil) and grandchildren, Sidney, Bretton,and Mark. He is also survived by his brother Claude.

Those wanting samples of Ken’s writing over the years, and an expanded version of this death notice, may contact ken.bagnell.bio@gmail.com.

GRAHAM NICHOLAS LANGLEY (’55)
Submitted by Sharon Langley

Graham Nicholas Langley, age 88, died peacefully in the Halifax Infirmary on Oct.31, 2021 with family by his side. Born in Port Hawkesbury, Cape Breton, NS, he was the son of Freda Catherine Ross and John George Elmer Langley.He graduated from Port Hawkesbury and New Glasgow public schools, Mount Allison (BSc 1955) and then the Technical University of Nova Scotia (1957) with a degree in civil engineering.

Graham was very athletic. He enjoyed his time playing rugby and basketball in New Glasgow and even played against the Harlem Globetrotters. He was always a strong Mount A athletic supporter and loved to attend many football and basketball games long after his graduation.

He had a long work career starting with CNR in 1957; Industrial Estates, Michelin, Department of Lands and Forest. After retirement, he engineered shoreline erosion walls and spent the next 20 years building those around the Maritimes. This is also when his travel adventures began. He
would spend winters in Costa Rica, Florida, Spain, Greece, Thailand, Australia, Mexico,and France. During his multiple adventures he would whole-heartedly immerse himself in the local culture by studying Spanish and learning the local arts, including stained glass and jewelry making.

He was a firm believer in education and was a role model for his grandchildren as he studied Spanish and advanced French later in life. He became certified to instruct English as a second language and used this to teach Mexican pre-schoolers while he was travelling in Mexico. He never stopped learning new things and he became a certified scuba diver in his late 70s and dove the Great Barrier Reef.

DR. ROLAND W. PORTER (’60)
Submitted by Peter MacRae (’61)

It was June 6 last that Ron Porter died at his Dartmouth home, thus closing a book with some telling, imaginative, and instructive chapters, and tales of a life well-lived.

It began quietly in a Moncton of the late 30s and moved quickly to Woodstock where a penchant for science and things mechanical would soon emerge, as would an insatiable appetite for music, art, and literature, and an innate (albeit self-effacing) desire to lead. All of it would lead eventually to Mount Allison where, Beaverbrook scholarship in hand, he would land an arts degree in 1963, some renown as a jazz musician, the presidency of his class, and Ann (Keating ’60) to whom he would be joined for the next 60 years and with whom he would present the world with Cathy (’84), Joanna (’92), and Sara whom they would graciously lend to Acadia.

Then, an engineering career inevitably put aside, he would follow his faith to Pine Hill Divinity degrees in 1964 and 1968, to a three-year stint at Iona College in Windsor, ON, and to a subsequent doctorate from Scotland’s Aberdeen University in 1970, all of which would contribute to United Church of Canada pastorates in all three Maritime provinces.In the 1980s would come a five-year chaplaincy and teaching appointment at Mount Allison during which time he would join his wife as a residence don of Edwards House. He took formal retirement in the late 1990s, waking each day to read, think, meet friends and neighbours, be at peace with the world.

Meanwhile, his book never really ends; it goes on instructing and encouraging lives to be diligent, creative, idiosyncratic, disciplined, honest: and full of grace.

DR. GREG DONALD (’73)
Submitted by the MtA Basketball Hawks of the 1970s

Dr. Greg Donald was a loving and dedicated husband, father and family man who was nationally recognized for his exemplary workin the Province of New Brunswick as a family physician.

To us, he was also a teammate and friend who set the bar for being an “ALL STAR” person.

Gifts in his honour may be made to the Dr. Gregory Donald “Heads Up” Bursary at Mount Allison University. Read a detailed obituary.