Mary Louise (McCarthy) MacLeod

Mary Louise MacLeod

North Sydney

We are grieved to announce that our beloved Mom, Mary Lou MacLeod (McCarthy) is finally at rest after a long battle with Alzheimer’s.  She passed away peacefully on Tuesday, October 27, 2020 at Harbourstone Enhanced Care, Sydney.

Our Mom was such a wonderful, caring, and nurturing mother & grandmother. She taught us many things, but her most important lesson was in how to love, something that she modelled all of her life. She also taught us to have pride and confidence in ourselves - something she had for each of us in spades.  

Mom was such a talented lady.  She taught herself to do so many things and mastered them all so well.  She was a wonderful cook & baker, seamstress, knitter, crafter, dancer, skater, hairdresser - the list goes on.  She was such an inspiration to us all.  

Our Mom loved to laugh and did so often.  She had the best laugh - so infectious!  She taught us not to take ourselves too seriously & to find the funny in things, including ourselves.  Mom loved her sweets.  She often said she would forfeit a good meal for a great dessert anytime.

Mom loved her family fiercely.  She would defend & support them with all her might.  This included not just her immediate family but all of her extended family as well.  Mom shared close relationships with her nieces and nephews, and in many cases, their children as well.  She was especially close with her nieces June Clarke Williams & Barbara Taylor Redmond and with her nephew Joe McCarthy. Family was the most important thing in the world to our mother.  

Mom is survived by her 5 children Alan (Theresa) MacLeod, Delores Roxanne (Bill) Walsh, Roseann (Dave) Rehn, Linda (Terry) Bona & Don (Mary Joan) MacLeod, 9 grandchildren Alana (Shaun) MacDougall, Amanda Bona, Daniel (Julia) MacLeod,  Kate (Brian) Burns, Alex (Kerry) Walsh, Erin (Jon) Smith, Laura MacLeod (Dennis Campbell), Kiera MacDonald (Jeff Wilkins) Sam MacLeod (Torie Costa) and 6 great grandchildren.  She is also survived by her sister-in-law Mae MacKenzie.

Besides her parents Michael and Barbara (Taylor) McCarthy, Mary Lou was predeceased by her husband Donald Murdoch MacLeod, brothers Michael, Roland, Bill and John, her sisters Veronica “Von”, Marion, Leona, Helen "Nell" and Delores “Diggy”.  She was the last surviving member of her immediate family.

We would like to thank the staff at Harbourstone Enhanced Care for their wonderful care & treatment of our mother over the last 10 years.  It eased our minds knowing that she was being treated in a respectful and caring manor.  

Cremation will take place. A celebration of life to be determined and organized at a later date. Arrangements have been entrusted to the W.J. Dooley Funeral Home, 107 Pleasant Street, North Sydney. Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.wjdooley.com .

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