G. Alan MacLeod

George Alan MacLeod July 3, 1937 – July 26, 2024

With much love and heavy hearts, we announce the peaceful final flight of Captain George Alan MacLeod (Alan), on July 26, 2024, at St. Joseph’s Health Centre, Guelph, Ontario. Although he spent his final two and a half years in Guelph, Ontario, Dad loved and resided in Hudson, Quebec for the previous fifty years. Born on July 3, 1937, in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island to Leith and Mae (nee Unsworth) MacLeod, he was predeceased by his parents and his sister, Marjorie.

Dad is survived by his beloved wife of 64 years, Donalda (nee Mill) and his children, Heather (Bill), Andrew (Kristine) and Susan (Rob). He was lovingly called “Papa” or “Grandpa” by his grandchildren, Erin (Sean), Scott, Meghan (Chris), Ross (Queenie), Kristy, Ryan and Jake, and was recently blessed with a great-grandson, Callum, whose appearance always brought a joyous grin to his face.

Dad loved to sail the Lake of Two Mountains and was a pretty good curler. He enjoyed cycling and once cycled his cherished PEI solo, from tip to tip. He relished skiing and really loved milkshakes, but his true love was all things aviation. Dad learned to fly with the Air Cadet League of PEI and earned his wings in the summer of 1952 at the age of 15, three days before his 16th birthday. Trouble was, you had to be 16 to obtain your pilot’s license, so they told him, “Come back in 3 days, Al”. He did. And thus began his career in aviation.

From the late 1950s to the mid-1960s, Dad worked as an air traffic controller, first in Moncton, New Brunswick, then Halifax, Nova Scotia and finally, Dorval, Quebec. But ATC was not Dad’s end goal. He wanted to be a commercial pilot and he wanted to do that with Air Canada. That dream materialized in 1965 when he was hired by Air Canada and over the next 32 years, he had hundreds of wonderful flying adventures and created life-long friends making his living doing what he loved. One such adventure was running a year-long project flying for Polynesian Airlines, out of Apia, Samoa. He often confessed his real joy had been flying CF-TCC, Air Canada’s historic Lockheed L-10A Electra, one of the first aircrafts purchased by Trans-Canada Airlines in 1937. He flew this special shiny aircraft all over Canada with his beloved colleagues and family. One close colleague described these flights as “flying over the Canadian Rocky Mountains @ 12,000 feet on a sparkling, blue-sky day, listening to the beautiful, synchronized sounds of an old radial engine”. To Dad, this was heaven.

He closed out his Air Canada career in 1997, at the age of 60. He insisted “60 is far too young to retire” and for the next year or so he taught and checked on the B757 with Royal Air, out of Toronto.

His final aviation-career adventure was with the United Nations, flying Dash 7s on humanitarian missions in the Cote d’Ivoire. He lived in a compound with aviation enthusiasts from all over the world and loved this last gig. Dad continued flying for the UN until 2000, when he returned home, hung up his professional cap and called it a career. You could still spot him flying his Cessna 170 though, for years to come, in and out of fly-ins and on many an adventure with his retired airline buddies.

Dad was a man of faith, too. He was honest, fair and generous. He loved his church community and spent hundreds of hours over many decades volunteering and contributing at his cherished St. James Church, in Hudson, Quebec.

Dad will be remembered forever for his rock-solid work ethic and high standards, his sense of humour, the twinkle in his mischievous blue eyes, and his genuine smile. You could usually hear him approaching before you saw him, as he was constantly whistling a happy tune; he was always encouraging his grandkids to “shake the hand that shook the world,” was always happy to teach anyone how to shuck an oyster and he could hypnotize a lobster like no other.

He will be greatly missed but held forever in our hearts.

Wheels up, dad. We hope there are bottomless milkshakes in Heaven.

Please join us for a memorial service in the Chapel at Arbour Trails Retirement Home, 32 Bayberry Dr, Guelph, Ontario, on August 10, 2024 at 10am, immediately followed by a celebration of Dad’s life.

Arrangements entrusted to WALL-CUSTANCE FUNERAL HOME & CHAPEL (519-822-0051 / www.wallcustance.com).

Those wishing to donate in memory of Dad are asked to consider the Air Cadet League of Canada or the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada.

A tree will be planted in memory of G. Alan MacLeod in the Wall-Custance Memorial Forest.