Gordon MacRae

The Great Gordon MacRae ~ Laird of Big Farm Road

There is no way to write of Gordon's life, to do it justice, in anything short of a book. On hearing of his passing a friend was quoted, "He will be remembered as a humanitarian, a master craftsman, an inventor, a designer, a genuine man of keen wit with superior storytelling talent. A man of conviction and determination but with a kind and gentle effect, a man of outright joy who celebrated life every day and that with his passing is the end of an era". He will live on in all of us.

He built so much! From furniture to aluminum boats and barges to unique fisheries equipment, ' The Devco Days', to full scale replicas of the Silver Dart plane to bodhrans (Celtic Drums) to an airboat to aluminum crosses ranging from two feet to a twenty-eight foot lighted one overlooking Eskasoni to renovations on historical architecture to so many houses, you have probably been in one. He came out of retirement at the age of seventy-two and built one more beautiful home.

Gordon poured the foundations of lifelong friendships, framed up and insulated neighbours who can't imagine what life on the Baddeck River would have looked like without him. He placed the supporting beams of two incredibly loving marriages with the late Jenny (Dicks) MacRae for forty years & then with Laverne Barlow-MacRae for the past twenty-two years. Gordon shingled a sheltering roof over step children, who would have been lost without him, Michael (Stephanie) Drinnan and Claire Drinnan. MacRae constructed eaves that extended over many honorary sons and daughters and shimmed in windows that saw family stretching from the Beatons of Leitches Creek to the Reids of Shelburne to the Barlows of P.E.I. to Edna Matheson on Baddeck Bay and Jackie MacInnis & family in Guelph, Ontario.

Born on Big Farm Rd, the only child of Alexander & Marion MacRae, he enjoyed farming, scuba diving, meeting with the Free Wheelers, trapping muskrat as a young man, foraging, advising fellow craftsmen, hosting his B&B guests, boating, grooming ski trails and raising a glass of scotch with friends. A fella with insatiable curiosity, quick on the one liners, a voracious reader capable of discussion on any topic, could make friends with all walks of life and leave a memory to treasure with everyone he met.

We will host a celebration of Gordon's life on Sunday Aug. 8th, 2021 at 2pm on Big Farm Road.

A special thank you to his Home Support Workers whose unparalleled care made his final months engaging and sprinkled with laughter. Also to his much appreciated Palliative Care Team who not only looked after Gordon but his family and enabled him to comfortably live and peacefully pass at home overlooking the Baddeck River and the Cape Breton Highlands.

In lieu of flowers, Memorial donations in his memory can be made to the Hospice Society of Victoria County (link below)

Expressions of sympathy or thoughts of Gordon can be made by selecting the "condolences" tab above