Mary was born on June 23, 1958 in Calgary, the third of five children to Joyce Doreen (nee Leather) and Jack Davis McDonald. Mary was predeceased by her mother in 1973. Mary is survived by her loving husband Daryl, her two treasured sons Shane and Kris. Mary leaves behind her father (Lorna) and four well-loved siblings Brian (Susan), Barb (Lorne), Ian (Patty) and Nancy (Mahidhara), and sister-in-law Brenda (Paul), her nine dear nieces and nephews, Christine and Bill McDonald, Brandy (Rob), Jon (Michelle) and Jesse Newman, Michael and Sara (Detlef) McDonald as well as Rebecca and Samantha. She also leaves her beloved four great-nieces Jenna and Ella Newman, Madison McDonald, Keely Lehman and great-nephew Jacob Kaczanowski.
Mary started working for Sears in 1975 when she was 17-years-old. She started at the North Hill store in the catalogue department and then over the years worked her way up to management positions in Marlborough, Chinook, North Hill, South Centre, the Brentwood Home store as well as the Regional Office. In 2007, she finally reached her career dream of becoming store manager of Sears North Hill where she had started at Sears 33 years earlier. Mary made many friends during her career at Sears. She was known for her friendliness, sense of humour, fairness, hard work, organization and her interest in everything that was going on around her. Mary never asked anyone to do something she would not do herself, and she was a great delegator (at work and at home!). She was always happy to share her knowledge and would find an answer to any question she didn’t already know. Mary always had a story to tell at the store-wide meetings. Other managers would talk about sales and numbers, and Mary would too, but she made the meetings more fun with her escapades with moose and deer etc. Although she was upper management, Mary never treated people as if she were better than they were because she was the boss. However, she was very capable of handling any issues that arose. Mary had a great memory for numbers and she could tell you a stock number from years ago. She knew the stock number of all the ride-on ducks in the toy department when Marlborough was opened. Mary was well respected and loved by many people who crossed her path at Sears during the years. She wasn’t just a coworker or manager, she was a friend and mentor. She made a difference in a lot of people’s lives and she will be greatly missed.
Compared to her sisters and me (niece), Mary was not too much of a girly girl. She only wore the odd thing like pretty beaded bracelets and other than those, she wasn't too interested in girly clothes and stuff. I remember one time in Kelowna just over a year ago we were all so excited to be trying on the new sparkly eyeliner in Shopper's Drug Mart and begging Mary to try it too but it just wasn't her thing. We took her shopping last year for a new outfit at Sears (of course) and we had her trying on a tonne of different shirts and pants (and even bras) that were outside her norm. In the beginning she was being really modest and closing the door to the change room in between changes, but after a few outfits she just had the door wide open and we were tossing things in for her to try in front of us (and the rest of the customers!). We did end up finding her an amazing outfit of an animal print top, some nice-fitting dark brown capris, a new bra, a new pair of sandals, and some new jewelery - she looked so good! But she was definitely a girl at heart. It did surprise us all when she got her amazing butterfly tattoo on her calf! And she always had her thick long brown hair that we were all jealous of (we all have thin short hair that doesn't grow!). And we used to tease her all the time about her flowery Alia shirts - which she told us she finally got rid of (thank god!). Her girliness came out in her crafts, interests and hobbies with her quilting, her sewing and her love of kaleidoscopes. She appreciated girly things and got a kick out of us and vice versa. And I hate to admit it, but I already miss those Alia shirts...
love brandy
