MacINNES, Anne Garrie 'Nan' Tait - With heavy hearts we announce the passing of our dear sweet mother, grandmother, and great- grandmother. Mum left us on October 2, 2020, with her sons Norman, Greig and Neil at her side.
Nan was the beloved wife of the late Lauchlin MacInnes, who passed away in 2002. They were married for almost 52 years.
Nan was the loving mother of Norman (the late Pansy, Sherry), the late David, Greig (Chantell) and Neil (Jill).
Nan was the cherished grandmother of James, April (Simon), Heather, Lauchlin (Emily), Catherine (Brian), Morgan and Tait.
And Nan was the dear great-grandmother of Avery, Devon, Fin and Callum.
Nan was a sweet and caring person who made friends easily. She blessed her sons and husband with love and kindness. . She was noted for her celebrated shortbread and for her propensity to always have a gift ready for every occasion. Mum was often seen out with one of her Terriers, chatting with someone she had bumped into.
Nan was also a talented artist, primarily as a painter of landscapes. Her works of art which adorn the walls of her sons, grandchildren and friends homes are cherished reminders of her.
A private funeral for Nan MacInnes will take place on October 7 at Clarkson Road Presbyterian Church, Mississauga, which the MacInnes family attended since 1961. Because of COVID-19, attendance will be restricted to family. Arrangements with Skinner and Middlebrook funeral home.
Donations to Clarkson Road Presbyterian Church or the Ontario SPCA and Humane Society would be appreciated by the family.
The family expresses its heartfelt gratitude to the dedicated and caring staff at the Chartwell Waterford Long-Term Care Residence where Nan spent her final years.
Nan’s life
Nan was born in Toronto on December 27, 1926. (All her life her birthday celebrations took place in the shadow of Christmas.)
Her parents, James Williams (“Jim”) Tait and Catherine Wallace Tait, had immigrated from Edinburgh, Scotland a few years earlier.
Nancy Tait (as she then was) grew up in the west end of Toronto during the Great Depression. Times were tough. The family were tenants and had to move several times, but always in the same neighbourhood.
Nevertheless, Nan’s childhood was a happy one. The family enjoyed simple pleasures, like going for a walk or going to the Sunnyside Amusement Park (demolished in the 1950s to make way for the Gardiner Expressway).
Nan and her cousin Doris spent hours in the summer at the High Park Mineral Baths (a public swimming pool). Nan enjoyed having the opportunity to take swimming lessons at her high school.
It was the golden age of radio, and Nan and her parents enjoyed listening to radio programs. Sometimes Nan would hide at the top of the stairs while her father listened to the popular detective show “The Shadow”. Years later, she would often regale her sons with her rendition of the opening lines of that program: “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows! Ha, ha, ha, [evil cackle].”
It was presumably from her Lowland Scottish parents that Nan derived some of her versions of popular sayings and proverbs. For example, she always said, “Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight; red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning” rather than “sailor’s warning,” which seems to be the more common variant in North America. She always said, “touch wood” rather than “knock on wood.”
Presumably from the same source, she picked up several amusing superstitions. For instance, she often said that if your ears were ringing, that meant that someone was talking about you. If your nose was itchy, that meant that you were about to kiss a fool!
In 1943, Nan had her first summer job at Pierson’s Hotel on Centre Island.
In the late 1940s, Nan worked at Women’s College Hospital as a dietician. She still had the book Vitality Through Planned Nutrition in her bookcase at the time of her death. She often referred to it when she was raising her sons.
In 1950 Nan worked as a research assistant at the Ontario Research Foundation. One of the projects she
worked on was investigating the production of artificial vanilla extract from wood pulp.
In the late 1940s, she met an RCAF veteran named Lauchlin MacInnes, who was then attending University of Toronto. Both were members of the Young People’s Group at Royce Presbyterian Church.
Nan and Lauch were married on October 6, 1950. They lived on Yorkville Avenue for the first year of their marriage while Lauch was studying to be a teacher at the Ontario College of Education.
In 1951, they moved to Hanover, Ontario, where Lauch had his first teaching job.
Lauchlin and Nan decided to specialize in sons. Nan gave birth to four sons in five years! (This may explain why her hair turned white at a relatively early age!)
Norman (1952), David (1954) and Greig (1955) were born in Hanover.
In August 1955, Lauchlin was hired to teach at Port Credit Secondary School in what is now Mississauga. The family moved to a small house they rented in Port Credit.
Neil was born in Port Credit in 1957.
Over the years, Nan’s sons had measles, mumps, and chickenpox. Remarkably, Nan never contracted any of these “childhood” illnesses in spite of being in close proximity to four sick little boys all suffering from the same disease at the same time!
On December 28, 1959, the family moved to a new house at 1214 Indian Road, Lorne Park. It was the first house that Lauch and Nan owned.
In 1961, the family began attending Clarkson Road Presbyterian Church. Over the years, Lauch and Nan supported the church in various ways, including teaching Sunday school.
Christmas was a major event in the MacInnes household. One special Christmas tradition that Nan started and continued for many years was to bake copious amounts of shortbread to give away as gifts. Nan’s shortbread was especially delicious and greatly coveted.
Nan was always fond of animals, especially dogs. This was a good thing, as the MacInnes household at various times in the 1960s and 70s included a cat, a rabbit, three dogs, guinea pigs, a hamster and even mice (as part of a science experiment in genetics).
In the 1960s and early 1970s, the family went on many camping trips. A favourite campground was Killbear Park on Georgian Bay near Parry Sound.
In 1972, the family went on a memorable trip to the UK, where Lauch had been stationed for three years during World War II.
As the years passed, the family branched out to include daughters-in-law. Norman married Pansy in 1976. Greig married Chantell in 1984. And Neil married Jill in 1986.
The family also expanded to include grandchildren. Eventually, there were seven of them.
In 1981, Lauch and Nan went on another memorable trip to Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada to visit relatives of Norman’s wife Pansy, a native of Grenada.
In 1988, Lauch and Nan decided to downsize. They sold 1214 Indian Road and moved to 2425 Basswood Crescent in Erin Mills. In 1996, they further downsized and moved to 3339 Council Ring Road, also in Erin Mills.
Subsequently, Lauch and Nan travelled to the UK and other destinations and went on an Alaskan cruise in June 2002.
Lauch and Nan celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2000.
Lauch passed away on August 14, 2002.
In June 2005, Nan moved to a condo unit at 2177 Burnamthorpe Road, Mississauga.
In August 2005, Nan travelled with Norman and Pansy to Queensland, Australia to visit with their daughter April, who was attending university in Brisbane.
In 2006-2007, Nan again travelled to Australia – this time to the Melbourne area and Tasmania for April’s wedding in Tasmania. She did so only five weeks after a knee replacement operation!
In 2015 Nan sold her condo and moved to the Erinview Retirement Residence.
Four great-grandchildren brought joy to Nan’s life in her final years.
In April 2016 Nan fell and fractured her hip. This led to the first of three lengthy stints at the Runnymede Healthcare Centre, a rehabilitation hospital. Her family celebrated Nan’s 90th birthday in the party room at Runnymede on December 27, 2016. Her mobility progressively deteriorated, and she could no longer stay at the retirement home.
In March 2018, Nan made her final move to the Chartwell Waterford Long-Term Care Residence in Bronte, Ontario.
Throughout her final years of physical decline, Nan maintained a remarkably positive attitude and remained in good spirits. As always, she made new friends. She enjoyed being taken out for walks around the neighbourhood. She watched the news and kept up with current events.
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