{"id":10866,"date":"2019-12-21T14:52:33","date_gmt":"2019-12-21T19:52:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jjcardinal.ca\/?p=10866"},"modified":"2020-03-25T14:53:14","modified_gmt":"2020-03-25T18:53:14","slug":"mr-thomas-mckendy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jjcardinal.ca\/en\/mr-thomas-mckendy\/","title":{"rendered":"Mr. Thomas McKendy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Passed away on December 21st, 2019 at the age of 74 years old<\/strong><\/p>\n

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After living with ALS for 6 years, Thomas \u201cTom\u201d Francis McKendy died from complications of a stroke on December 21, 2019 at the age of 74. He is survived by his wife, Beverly (nee Birkman), daughters Annie (Anna-Kate) and Katherine, grandson Ben, brother Joe (Connie), and many cousins and nephews. He is predeceased by his mother, Anna (nee Martin), and father Francis \u201cBuds\u201d McKendy.<\/p>\n

An Ottawa native, Tom studied English and Mathematics at St. Patrick\u2019s College before going to the University of Michigan to pursue a PhD in English Literature. A proud Wolverine, his years at Michigan were not all work; not only did he have many a rowdy night at Fun Castle, he also played football \u201cat Michigan\u201d and met Beverly, all while writing his thesis on a typewriter.<\/p>\n

In 1975, Tom moved to Montreal, where he devoted his career to education as a beloved professor of English and Humanities at Marianopolis College. He was an active member of the Marianopolis community, serving as the chair of the Liberal and Creative Arts department for many years. He also co-founded the Marianopolis Refugee Committee, sponsoring families from Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America, helping them settle in and build lives in Montreal.<\/p>\n

In 2003, he moved to John Abbott College, serving as Associate Academic Dean, where he continued to work for two years after his diagnosis.
\nAlthough as a teacher he loved to proselytize about the solitude of Walden\u2019s pond, Tom was very much a man of the people. Family and community were of great importance to him, and these values ensured that he was well surrounded up until the last moments of his life. His circles extended from the Dorval Old Timers hockey league, to his work colleagues at Marianopolis, John Abbott, and Concordia, to relatives in Ottawa, New Brunswick, Vancouver, the US, and beyond.
\nWhile living with ALS came with unimaginable challenges, not the least of which involved facing one\u2019s own fallibility, he truly learned to live fully in spite of his diagnosis. He repeated often that \u201cCarpe diem\u201d translates accurately to \u201cHarvest the day\u201d, not \u201cSeize the day\u201d \u2013 and that he did.
\nWe are deeply grateful that his mind, voice and spirit remained strong up until the last few days, and that he got to know his grandson Ben for 5 years.<\/p>\n

While we are saddened by Tom\u2019s death, we are also deeply grateful for the community of exceptional caring people Tom has built around him. We hope to be able to bring that community together again at the visitation on Friday, January 3 from 6-9 pm, and the ceremony and reception on January 4 from 1-3 pm. Both will take place at J.J. Cardinal Funeral Home (560 Lakeshore Drive, Dorval, QC).<\/p>\n

Those wishing to commemorate Tom\u2019s life are invited to make a donation to one of the following organizations:<\/p>\n

– ALS research at the Montreal Neurological Institute
\nhttps:\/\/www.alumni.mcgill.ca\/give\/index.php?new=1&formtype=MNI
\n– The Tom McKendy Liberal Arts Bursary at Marianopolis College: https:\/\/secure.marianopolis.edu\/onlinegiving\/
\n– NOVA West Island (Palliative Home Nursing Care for people living with ALS)
\nhttps:\/\/www.novawi.org\/copie-de-faire-un-don<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

DONATE<\/h3>\n

–\u00a0Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital<\/a>
\n–\u00a0Tom McKendy Liberal Arts Bursary at Marianopolis College<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

R\u00c9SIDENCE FUN\u00c9RAIRE J.J. CARDINAL<\/h3>\n

560, chemin Bord du Lac, Dorval (Qu\u00e9bec)\u00a0\u00a0H9S 2B3<\/p>\n

Tel.:\u00a0514-631-1511\u00a0|\u00a0Fax:\u00a0514-631-1516\u00a0|\u00a0Email:\u00a0info@jjcardinal.ca<\/a><\/p>\n

Driving directions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Passed away on December 21st, 2019 at the age of 74 years old After living with ALS for 6 years, Thomas \u201cTom\u201d Francis McKendy died from complications of a stroke on December 21, 2019 at the age of 74. He is survived by his wife, Beverly (nee Birkman), daughters Annie (Anna-Kate) and Katherine, grandson Ben, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":10863,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-obituaries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jjcardinal.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jjcardinal.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jjcardinal.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jjcardinal.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jjcardinal.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jjcardinal.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jjcardinal.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jjcardinal.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jjcardinal.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jjcardinal.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}