Jannet Stewart McKechnie Davidson
* July 28 1908 - Oct 17 1999 *


" Each life is a miracle that changes the world
and leaves it a better place than it was before "

(This is the eulogy given by her daughter at the funeral)

"Mom was born in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
and spent her early years in Rocky Mountain House, Alberta.
Her father James Stewart McKechnie was married to Arabella May Jamieson.
Mom was the oldest of three children.
She lived with her family in a variety of lumber camps
and Mom loved telling stories of the 'seedier' times!

James & Arabella McKechnie's 40th Wedding Anniversary ~ 1944

I never knew my grandmother, but my grandfather, 'Grampa Jim'
was a real westerner, a lumberjack, a prospector, a miner,
a dreamer who on his 94th birthday rode up to his mine on a bulldozer.
Mom came by her determination and independance honestly.
She always told me how wonderful her mother was and
of the time she put her last dollar in the church collection plate ~
not a story that most preacher's kids would hold hear!


Mom went to one-room schools.
She read for her father's brother, Uncle Gib, a minister who was blind.
After high school she went to 'normal school' paid for by Uncle Gib and became a teacher.
She taught for a few years in Alberta
and then worked for the Canadian Chautauqua
and travelled across Canada doing advance bookings.


Chautauqua was a travelling educational and cultural series entertainment organization.
Mom drove an 'antique car' alone through all kinds of weather and roads
and carried a 'pearl-handled revolver' for protection.
Her stories from those times were many and varied and some not suitable for this setting!



Mom first met my Dad when she was still living in Rocky Mountain House with her family.
Mom was 14 years old and Dad was 24.
Dad had left Michigan where he had been working
at the Woodward Presbyterian Church in Detroit.
He was headed for work in the mission field in the Rockies.
Dad boarded with Mom's parents in Rocky Mountain House.


One night at dinner she announced that she would never marry a minister ~
the ultimate challenge to a 24 year old preacher !
It took years of letters
and 'not by chance' meetings
in a variety of Canadian Chautauqua stops as well as Chicago
before they married some 21 years later
on October 23 1940 in a quiet ceremony in Calgary Alberta.



Immediately following the wedding they travelled to Ohio where Mom met Dad's family.
They settled in Rittman Ohio.
Although Mom said becoming a 'minister's wife' was somewhat of a culture shock,
she took on the job enthusiastically.
She loved the people of the Milton Presbyterian Church and they her.
We left there in 1959 and Mom continued to maintain
loving relationships with people in Rittman all of her life.


Mom was a true partner in ministry ~
in fact she did so much work that as a kid I used to wonder what Dad did do!!
In spite of all her church work,
she was very much a full time mother and took me everywhere with her ~
in the beginning days on a harness.
I baked with her, delivered cookies and often sat eating through the women's meetings.
It took her awhile to get used to me since she was 41 when I arrived.


She loved telling the story of the day the neighbour's husband died on the front porch next door.
She ran to be with the neighbour and then all of a sudden remembered
that she had left me alone on a 'potty chair' attached to the toilet seat.
She returned to find me still flushing!!


Mom and I went to British Columbia every summer of my childhood to be with her family.
She loved spending time at Mara Lake, Shuswap Lake and Kamloops Park.
We swam and read.
In my adult years with Mom we did the same thing on Georgian Bay in Ontario.


In 1959 Mom and I went to Kamloops to care for her father who lived to be 98.
After he died she returned to Ohio with Dad and made Coshocton her home.
She was actively involved within the church with the women's work, missions
and the Thursday morning prayer meeting as well as with many community groups.
One of her favourites was the Chautauqua Club.


In 1976 she was in hospital for 4 months and almost died.
Since then every year has been a gift from God.
I have many wonderful memories ~
trips west, trips to Stratford (she loved the theatre),
family visits with her cousins in Dundas.
Mom often said "in our family, cousins are like siblings".


And her 90th birthday celebrations which included
a visit from her nephew and his wife who live in Calgary Alberta,
a trip to the Stratford Festival and
a luncheon with her family from Dundas Ontario and a local celebration ....


She was faithful to family, friends and neighbours, the church and her God.
Mom admired the work of Mother Theresa and a specific quote ~
"God has not called me to be successful.
He has called me to be faithful"....


One of Mom's favourite authors was May Sarton.
In Recovering: A Journal (1978-79) Sarton writes
"I would like to believe that when I die that I have given myself away
like a tree that sows seed every spring and never counts the loss
because it is not loss, it is adding to future life.
It is the tree's way of being.
Strongly rooted perhaps, but spilling out its treasure on the wind."

Mom gave much to my future life and to the lives of all who shared in her life.


Each of you here today contributed some part to the meaning and mosaic of her life.
For that I am thankful.
She was faithful to this congregation and you to her."

Return to My McKechnie Direct Ancestor Line
Return to My Stewart Direct Ancestor Line

Return to: James Stewart McKechnie ~ A Pioneer's Trek




for the old fashioned car