MACADAM, Pauline MacAdam

It is with deep sadness that the family of Eva Pauline MacAdam (née Sheppard) announces her sudden passing at home on March 13, 2026, at the age of 76, after a years-long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

Pauline leaves behind her beloved husband, Robert (Bob) MacAdam; her children, James (Jamie) MacAdam (spouse Natalie) of LaSalle, Ont., Allison Walker (née MacAdam) (spouse Kevin) of Prescott, Ont., Lindsay MacAdam-Patience (spouse Michael) of Burlington, Ont.; her grandchildren, Dominique LeBrun, River LeBrun, Paige MacAdam, Hayden Walker, Ellie Walker, Wyatt Walker, Fiona Patience and Willa Patience; her siblings Doug Sheppard (spouse Betty), Ray Sheppard (spouse Sheila) and sister-in-law Trudy Sheppard (née Wilcox), all of Corner Brook, Nfld.; as well as many cousins, nieces and nephews. Pauline was predeceased by her father, Ralph Sheppard; her mother, Effie Sheppard (née Darrigan); and her siblings Ron Sheppard, Wally Sheppard, Barbara Coles (née Sheppard) and Marguerite McKenna (née Sheppard).

Born in Curling, Nfld., shortly after Confederation in September 1949, Pauline was a proud Newfoundlander who loved East Coast music, berry-picking season and being near the ocean. She defended her province and fellow islanders against any slurs or “Newfie” jokes until the very end.

Her father, Ralph, died when Pauline was only four years old and her brother Ray was an infant, leaving her mother, Effie, to raise their seven children on her own.Pauline left home at 17 years old to find work in Toronto. She worked in retail and had a clerical job with the Department of Veterans Affairs at Sunnybrook Hospital before landing her dream job with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Security Service (which later became CSIS) at age 21. This was during the Cold War years, so Pauline was conducting surveillance on Russians, Cubans and other potential enemies of Canada.

During that time, Pauline met her husband, Bob, who was a police officer in Toronto. They married in 1975. Bob joined the RCMP in 1977—the same year they had their first child, Jamie—and they were posted to Newfoundland, forcing Pauline to leave the job she loved to move back east.

Pauline and her growing family lived all over Newfoundland during the next 13 years—Spaniard’s Bay, St. Anthony, Nain (Labrador) and St. John’s. Her daughters, Allison and Lindsay, were born in Carbonear in 1979 and 1984, respectively. Pauline was mostly a stay-at-home mother during those years, but she worked briefly in real estate and helped run the women’s shelter and day care centre in Nain.

Pauline was an amazing mother who did most of the heavy lifting when it came to raising her children. Talented in the kitchen and a master of multitasking, she could often be found baking a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies or homemade bread, with a pot of chili simmering on the stove.

Pauline often spoke about the challenges and joys of being a Mountie’s wife, dragging the family to far-flung places across Canada and getting everyone settled. In some of the smaller communities, she had to deal with the added pressure of having people show up at her front door to report crimes or seek police help while Bob was out working. She took all of that in stride, willing to do whatever she could to support her family and others in need.

In 1990, Pauline and her family moved back to Ontario. They lived in Embrun, a small bilingual community southeast of Ottawa, where both Pauline and Bob worked—Pauline for Synchro Canada, a non-profit national sport organization responsible for the development and operation of artistic swimming.  In 1993, the family moved to Whitehorse, Yukon, where Pauline worked part-time for the RCMP, both dispatching calls and monitoring and transcribing wiretaps.

After four years in the North, the family headed back to Ontario again—Newmarket this time. Pauline found work with the York Regional Police (YRP), first as a 9-1-1 communicator and later as a station duty operator. Working 12-hour night shifts would be exhausting for most, but Pauline was known to return home and whip up a batch of homemade blueberry muffins before getting some rest.

In 2004, while living in Newmarket, Bob went on a year-long European Union Police Mission to Bosnia while Pauline and the now-adult kids stayed behind. It was a family decision, and Pauline undoubtedly had some misgivings about it, but she agreed to let Bob go and to take on all the home and family responsibilities in his absence. She visited Bob in Bosnia twice during that year, and they enjoyed two amazing three-week holidays in Europe. They drove around in Bob’s 1986 Opal Ascona, which conveniently broke down in some of the nicest places—like in Rome during Friday evening rush hour, for example.

Pauline spent 12 years with the YRP and retired in 2011 at age 61. Bob retired the same year. For the previous three-plus decades, the pair had been buying or renting the best places they could find while on short house-hunting trips. Some of the houses they ended up in were less than ideal, but Pauline would fix them up to the best of her ability. Long before the emergence of YouTube DIY videos, Pauline was taking on complex home projects that her husband would never consider attempting. She always believed that someday they would have the home they wanted. And she was right. In 2011, they moved into their custom-built dream home in Brockville, Ont.

Pauline thoroughly enjoyed her early retirement years in that house. She kept busy tending to her beautiful gardens, spending time with neighbourhood friends, volunteering for charitable causes, and attending Brockville Newcomers Club events (including kayaking with the paddling group) and get-togethers with the RCMP Veterans’ Association’s Kingston Division.

During Pauline and Bob’s marriage of 50+ years, the pair travelled extensively—to Spain, Ireland, Italy, France, the Caribbean and many U.S. states, including Mississippi, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Florida, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Alaska and more. In their retirement, the travel continued. On several occasions, they travelled to Marbella, Spain, where they enjoyed extended trips alongside many Brockville friends who stayed at the Skol Apartments. They also made numerous trips to their timeshares in Florida to escape the Canadian winter.

In Pauline’s later years, as Alzheimer’s took its toll on her cognitive abilities and mobility, she slowed down quite a bit. She still did some travel (two weeks in Ireland in 2024 and five weeks in Newfoundland in 2025) and she still enjoyed attending live theatre and concerts (including seeing the musical Come From Away three times in recent years and seeing the Newfoundland musician Alan Doyle perform just three days before she died), but mostly it was a quieter, simpler life. She loved to sit and watch the Newfoundland program “Land and Sea” or listen to music, frequently singing along and dragging Bob (or whoever was around) up for a dance. Picking up a Tim Horton’s iced cappuccino and sitting on Blockhouse Island overlooking the St. Lawrence River became a near-daily ritual.

The progression of Pauline’s Alzheimer’s disease made it necessary to apply for long-term care despite her apprehension. Perhaps, in some ways, her sudden passing at home can be seen as a blessing, preventing the prolonged deterioration she so feared.

Pauline will be dearly missed and lovingly remembered as a beautiful, warm, funny and caring woman who went above and beyond for her children, was the absolute best life partner to her husband and made friends everywhere she went.

A celebration of Pauline’s life will be held at Barclay Funeral Home in Brockville on Saturday, April 18, 2026, at 1 p.m. with a gathering to follow at the Brockville Country Club. For those who cannot attend, the service will be livestreamed. In memory of Pauline, donations can be made to the Alzheimer Society of Canada.