Neil Christopher McBain

MCBAIN, Neil Christopher – passed away at the Ottawa Heart Institute on Friday, September 23, 2022 at the age of 68 years. Beloved husband of forty years to Diane (neé Giroux). Dear father of Linda McBain, Judy Simon (Neal) and Melissa McBain. Cherished Poppy of Ryan McBain, Cameron McBain,

Kayla Simon, Emily Simon, Tatyana McBain and Brayden McBain. Proud Great-Poppa of twelve great-grandchildren. Proud Godfather of three. Survived by brother, Finlay McBain (Kathy) and by sister,

Kathie McBain-Wills. Predeceased by his parents, Alexander and Kathleen (neé O’Hearn) McBain, by sister, Gail Kelly and by brothers, Ranald “Dan” McBain, Alexander “Skip” McBain, Joseph

McBain and Allan McBain, by granddaughter Angel Simon and by his In-laws Albert and Marie-Berthe Giroux.

“You can shed tears that he is gone

or you can smile because he has lived.

You can close your eyes and pray that he’ll come back

or you can open your eyes and see all he’s left us.

Your heart can be empty because you can't see him

or you can be full of the love you shared.

You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday

or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.

You can remember him and only that he’s gone

or you can cherish his memory and let it live on.

You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back

or you can do what he’d want: smile, open your eyes, love and go on.”

~Touch not a cat bot a targe~

Arrangements are entrusted to LAHAIE AND SULLIVAN CORNWALL FUNERAL HOME, WEST RANCH, 20 Seventh Street West (613-932-8482). Cremation. As expressions of sympathy, Memorials Donations

to the Canadian Cancer Society and to the Ottawa Heart Institute would be appreciated by the family. Messages of condolences may be left at www.lahaiesullivan.ca

Neil McBain

What do you say for a Scottish Man when he passes? You say “Mar Sin Leat” (mar shin lat)

Good-bye or better yet an informal farewell.

In Scottish Celtic tradition death is foreshadowed. There is an observance and a time to

celebrate. It is not a tabou thing to discuss or time to hide in your sorrows. It was said that to

see the body and not touch the deceased was to be bad luck. The views of death are not

around the focus of grief that we feel but on celebrating the life and the happy memories of our

loved one. And that is and was exactly what Neil wanted done. Neil liked the Scottish Celtic

traditions, yes even including eating Haggis (it became part of Christmas dinner too).

His request to observe a Celtic style passing for himself is being followed. With family by his

side holding his hand and those thinking of him, he passed peacefully, met by those who passed

before him waiting to hold him again. Neil realized that life was a temporary gift and that was

why he was determined to appreciate it. It is at his request (in true McBain style “This is what I

want done”) that we ask that everyone take the time you need to celebrate his life with

laughter, memories, food and drink and yes, a few tears (well more than a few). His body will

come home in his Celtic Urn draped in McBain Tartan and pinned with his crest and sword. His

Urn will be placed with the whisky bottles collected and never drank over the years. He will be

placed in his final resting place at a later time.

To know Neil is to know that he was to you what you needed when you needed him. When you

talk to others about him you get the sense of the Man he really was. Some describe Neil as a

great friend, a caring guy, one of the greatest guys you will ever know, outspoken, Best Poppa,

Best Dad, A rock, or most would have known him as a stubborn McBain. He was in fact all of

these and more, he was a strong, independent, a caring and loving man, and held a strong work

ethic and values. He stood behind his family, he passed his knowledge on to them, taught them

to stand up for themselves and others, how to be self-reliant and resilient, to be independent,

to remember family values and show pride. Time and time again he would talk about the

accomplishments of his family and others and make them known, yet most people did not

realize how accomplished he himself was.

Neil was several things in his life, a Son, Brother, Student (lifetime student), Farm hand, Uncle,

Husband of 40 years (something he was extremely proud of), Father of three (and Girls none

the less), bartender, taxi driver, mechanic, Godfather of three, Gas fitter, Stock car crew and

occasional driver (Eightball), Grandfather of seven, Self/family taught Computer Guru,

Custodial, Great Grandfather of eight, Maintenance, but most of all a Great Role Model in every

capacity. A true “Jack of all trades” that would fix everything and anything for his family and

friends. And if you knew Neil you were either Family or Friend or both.

He will remain all these things to us and will never be far.

~TOUCH NOTA CAT BOT A TARGE~

“Death is nothing at all

I have only slipped away into the next room

I am I and you are you

Whatever we were to each other

That we still are

Call me by my old familiar name

Speak to me in the easy way which you always used

Put no difference into your tone

Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow

Laugh as we always laughed

At the little jokes we always enjoyed together

Play, smile, think of me, pray for me

Let my name be ever the household word that it always was

Let it be spoken without effect

Without the ghost of a shadow on it

Life means all that it ever meant

It is the same as it ever was

There is absolutely unbroken continuity

What is death but a negligible accident?

Why should I be out of mind

Because I am out of sight?

I am but waiting for you at an interval

Somewhere very near

Just around the corner

All is well.”

Henry Scott Holland 1847-1918

Canon of St Pauls Cathedral