Jean McGinty

Respecting the current situation and pandemic restrictions, the funeral mass and interment will be private.
We thank you for your understanding and encourage you to provide your condolences to the family through her memorial page.

“Had we never lov'd sae kindly,

Had we never lov'd sae blindly,

Never met -- or never parted --

we had ne'er been broken-hearted”

Robert Burns


Christobel Jean McGinty passed away peacefully on April 25, 2021 at the age of 77. Jean was a beloved wife of the late Thomas McGinty for 45 years who predeceased her in 2007. Jean was the devoted mother and mother-in-law of Wendy (Simon), Thomas (Jin). Adored grandmother of Charlotte, Sarah, Theodore and Callan. Jean was a beautiful soul, and a thoughtful and caring person. She was blessed to have many wonderful family and friends in Canada and Scotland. Jean will be greatly missed by her family, friends and beloved cat, Smokey. Forever in our hearts and treasured memories. There will be a private service on Saturday, May 1st at Ward Funeral Home followed by a memorial mass at St. Marguerite D’Youville Parish in Brampton. A Celebration of Life will scheduled a later date. In memory of Jean, donations can be made to the Alzheimer's Society of Canada.



A Wee Bit About Jean


Jean was born in Edinburgh, Scotland during the Second World War and shared in those hard times with her parents and family. As the eldest daughter, so a second mother to her younger brothers and sisters, Jean always put herself after everyone else. As a young girl she told her Mother she dreamt of meeting a handsome, tall and dark man and spending the rest of her life with him. When she brought home Tam McGinty her mother said, “Well, he’s dark right enough”. However, Tam, later Tom after their move to Canada, and Jean did spend the rest of their lives together and few couples could have been happier.


One of Jean’s morning chores was to fetch the bottles of milk from the dairy for the morning tea. However, by the time she had poured some milk for every stray cat on her route home, there wasn’t much left for the tea! This love affair with cats lasted throughout her life and Jean always had a feline friend around the house. The incumbent is Smokey, a silky, dark fellow who came to Jean as a stray and soon became her precious ‘wee boy’.


Jean met Tom at Edinburgh's Palais de Danse in Fountainbridge, they just called it the ‘Palay’. To say that she loved music and dance would be an understatement! A dedicated ‘Beatles’ fan, Jean attended their Maple Leaf Gardens performance in September of 1964. Later in life, her friends nicknamed her ‘Jean, Jean the Dancing Machine’ to honour her refusal to sit down when music was playing! With her limitless energy, Jean not only danced up a storm on the Saugeen Shores to the fiddle music of the 'Jam Gang', she also volunteered to help out at St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in Port Elgin. Jean’s friends in Saugeen Shores were so special to her. She is remembered as Wee Jean, a sister to all and she was so loved.


Jean could add-up a column of figures in her head and this led her to a job at the Leith Provident Co-op, ‘the store’ in Edinburgh at that time. When she came to Canada she began working as a cashier at Steinberg’s Miracle Mart. Working there for more than twenty five plus years was close to a miracle in itself as the store changed ownership many times. Some of her closest friendships were formed there and she loved her friends dearly. They shared so much of their lives together as young mothers all the way to grandmothers.


Tom was a loving and caring husband, together they created a happy home in Brampton, Ontario for their two children, Wendy and Thomas. In their family they were always thought of as ‘Jean and Tom’, as one rather than two. When Tom retired from Litton Systems they bought a dream home in Southampton for their retirement. Unfortunately, that was not to be as Tom passed away relatively young and Jean spent more than ten years on her own. Though Tom’s passing stole some of the joy from her life, Jean was able to continue on and find new happiness with the companionship of her many friends and her loving family which now includes four grandchildren and, of course, Smokey.