Annie McRae

Passed away quietly September 25, 2023 at West Oaks Long Term Care facility in Oakville. Born April 25,
1927 to Stella Graham and Wallace Leach of Cobden, Ontario.

Annie was the second child in a family of four. After spending her childhood on the family farm, she moved to Kingston as a young woman to pursue her education as a nurse at Kingston General Hospital School of Nursing, graduating in 1949. She met her husband-to-be, Walter Ross McRae, while in Kingston and they were married in 1951.

Her nursing career was shortened by the arrival of daughters Kathryn and then Jane, three years later, while
Annie and Walt lived outside of Kingston in Collins Bay, which was to be Annie’s home for the next 50 years. Although she never returned to nursing, that training was invaluable in the following years as she devoted herself to her family and her community and she was often sought for advice as she was both pragmatic and caring.

She became an accomplished seamstress over the years, creating costumes, everyday clothes and eventually wedding dresses for her daughters in an unfinished basement sewing room in the house. As grandchildren began to arrive, she took up knitting as well, and produced beautiful sweaters, mittens and tuques. She loved her church, Edith Rankin Memorial United, and spent many hours in Bible study and serving with her sisters in Unit 7. One of her favorite times of the church year was the annual bazaar which made the food and crafts of the ERMUC community available tofriends and neighbours who attended the bazaar.

Although Annie lived in suburban Kingston, she never forgot her roots on the farm in Micksburg, and
even when she moved to Erinview Retirement Home in Mississauga in later years, she loved to tell her
grandchildren stories about life on the farm 60 years ago.

Annie was predeceased by her husband Walter in 1987. She is survived by one brother, George Leach of
Brampton, Ontario as well as her daughters Kathryn Kazmaier (Peter) of Mississauga, Ontario and Jane
Knight (Chris) of Prince George, BC, and their children Michael Kazmaier(Alyssa), Phil Kazmaier (Jen), and
Darren Kazmaier, Andrea Glasgow (Bill), and Lindsay Behnsen (Dave). The great grandchildren Aidan,
Logan, Adia, Nolen, Abigail, Walter, Brooks and Theo brought her great joy as she entered her final
years.

A private family time of remembrance will be held in Mississauga on October 8, 2023. Funeral will be
held at Edith Rankin Memorial United Church in Kingston on October 11, 2023. In lieu of flowers,
donations in honor of her memory may be made to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario or to
the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada.