Obituary of Margaret Cathcart

Margaret Rutherfurd Cathcart (née Thomson) February 17, 1919 to May 16, 2015 Margaret Cathcart was the much-loved mother of Madeline, Ronald and Barbara; grandmother of Nico Bohr; Graham, Ainsley and Taylor Cathcart; Athlyn and Colin Cathcart-Keays; and great-grandmother to Cleo and Maxine Bohr, with their parents Marco and Patricia Bohr. She was also the dearly loved mother-in-law of Stefan Bohr, Leila Wihby-Cathcart and Jeffrey Keays. Margaret started her life in Edinburgh and immigrated to Montreal in 1922, the same year that her late husband Thomas Joseph Cathcart was born in Saskatchewan. They were to meet for the first time in Montreal through their parents twenty years later in 1942. Prior to being a devoted matriarch to her immediate, globally-scattered family, Margaret was an accomplished person in her own right. She held a degree in Mathematics and Economics at McGill University, starting at only 16 years of age during the Great Depression in 1935. Upon graduating, she embarked on a ten year career with the Bank of Montreal in Montreal. Immediately following the War in 1946, Margaret spent a year working for the Bank of Montreal in London, England where she experienced first-hand the bleak war-ravaged capital's rebuilding campaign, rations and fog. None of this deterred her from making London her favourite city after her beloved Montreal. No account of Margaret's life would be complete without mentioning her deep connection to McGill. McGill was not just the university which awarded her with three qualifications; it was also her childhood playground, the beginning of lifelong friendships with her fraternity sisters and her main philanthropic interest. After her husband's death, Margaret endowed a scholarship at McGill which is granted each year to a young woman in financial need. McGill was also the embodiment of her deep-seated belief in education, an endowment inherited from her Scottish roots through her father and passed down to her family. She was proud to see all her children and all seven grandchildren attend and graduate from university, whose education she generously supported. After staying at home for ten years with Madeline and Ronald, Margaret went on to attain a Master's Degree in Education from McGill so that she could teach and take summers off to be with family. While in this second career, Margaret rose to become a Vice Principal and Head of the Guidance Department at Malcolm Campbell High School in Montreal. In 1992, Margaret and Tom moved to Toronto. After Tom died in 1999, Margaret spent the last sixteen years of her life facilitating family gatherings, affording everyone the opportunity to forge relationships that spanned four generations and thousands of miles. Without her support it is difficult to imagine that her globally disbursed grand children could have managed to remain so close to each other. Margaret was cherished by many as a mother, a grandmother and as a friend; she was respected for her high standards of integrity, loyalty, her wisdom and her incredible strength of character which enabled her to live independently right to the end of her life. In May of this year, having just completed a two year project of writing her memoirs Margaret died peacefully surrounded by her children, her final chapter complete. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in Margaret's memory, her request is that these be directed to the Chair in Scottish-Canadian Studies at McGill University, c/o Donation Records, #05046, 1430 Peel Street, Montréal, QC H3A 3T3 (514)-398-2787.