Mary E."Lila" MacIsaac

It is with sadness we announce that Mary Elizabeth “Lila” MacIsaac passed away peacefully in Inverary Manor, Inverness, on April 2nd. She was 95.

Born in Inverness on April 5th, 1918, the daughter of Angus and Catherine (MacNeil) Gillies, Lila was a loving care giver all her life. She devoted the early part of her life to caring for father until his death, after which she moved to Montreal to work. There, for a number of years, she looked after three young children, forming a bond with that family that continued through correspondence for decades.

Upon the death of her older sister, Mary Catherine “Kit” Macdonald, Lila returned from Montreal to look after a nephew, age 6, and two nieces, ages 4 and 18 months.

It was during this time that she became an employee at St. Mary’s Hospital in Inverness, where her care for children in the nursery was legendary among her co-workers.” There was never a crying child when Lila was in the nursery,” one former coworker noted.

When St. Mary’s Hospital and the Inverness Memorial Hospital merged to become the new Inverness Consolidated Memorial Hospital, Lila worked in the hospital’s Extended Care department, caring for elderly patients awaiting placement in long-term care. She was there until her retirement, marking four decades of health care service.

Lila was a devout member of Stella Maris Parish.

Her last years were lived in the Inverary Manor where all the love and care she shared with others through her personal commitment to family and professional commitment as a health care worker was returned tenfold through the tenderness and kindness of a staff about whom Lila constantly told visitors,” They are so good to me in here.”

She was predeceased by her parents, Angus and Catherine Gillies, by an only sister, Catherine (Fred), an only brother, Joe, and by her husband, Alex Dan MacIsaac.

Lila MacIsaac is survived by a nephew, Frank (Virginia), Inverness; two nieces, Freda Macdonald, Inverness, and Jacqueline Kellock Calgary; a loving nephew-by-marriage, Joey (Pauline) Doucet of Inverness, and niece-by-marriage, Frances (Pat) Muldoon, Ottawa; several grand and great grand nephews and nieces, and all who remember her with the same loving kindness she showed to other.

Lila’s remains have been cremated and a Funeral Mass and interment in the Stella Maris Parish Cemetery will be announced at a future date.

Anyone wishing to make a contribution in Lila’s memory can do so by donating to the Inverary Manor.

On-line condolences may be made to www.invernessfuneralhome.com.