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My father was Grant Roland McCr, born October 11, 1911 in Niagara Falls, ON and died in Windsor, ON September 30, 1997. He had had his first heart attack in February 1995.
Grant was a lawyer who started in Blind River, worked in Ottawa during the second world war and then moved to Windsor in 1947.
He was an only child of Henry Owen and Ethel Mary. Henry died Nov. 8,1943, just four months after I was born while Ethel lived to March 28, 1954.
Grant in many ways was a forward-thinker. He loved to travel and right up to the end he loved to try new things - moving to a new house at age 80 and buying a computer and undertaking to learn how to use it.
My mother was Margaret Ann who was the daughter of Walter and Mary Ella. Walter was the chief civil engineer when the Sir Adam Beck power plant was built for Ontario Hydro. He retired about the time I began to know him as I knew him until he died. His picture is as follows:
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His family at an earlier age can be seen as
Mary Ella was a Young who married Walter in Ridgeway. I knew her mostly after she had Parkinson's deisease but she used to talk to me as she rocked in her chair out on the porch. I remember her husband braiding her hair and I remember taking her out on a picnic and I got some glimpses of her being fun-loving. Her picture shows a calm and pleasant face 
while her family's name was Young pictured here 
Margaret was born June 24, 1913 in Niagara Falls Ontario and died suddenly the morning of December 26, 1998 in Windsor Ontario.
Margaret was a teacher, retiring as head of the English department at General Amherst Secondary School in Amherstburg, Ontario. She had also taught before marriage at Niagara Falls Collegiate. She took the years off while I was in school and only went back to teaching full-time when I was in University.
I was born July 20, 1943 in Ottawa, Canada. Next was Diane Elizabeth, born December 23, 1945 in Ottawa, followed by Mary Lynn, born December 23, 1954 in Windsor and Carol Anne, born January 8, 1959, deceased January 11, 1959 in Windsor Ontario.
Diane lives in the Windsor area to this day and has two daughters. Mary Lynn, whom I helped care for when she was little and whom I view as a true friend in adulthood lives in the Toronto area. She has a son and daughter.
I lived in Ottawa until I was four and then moved to Riverside (now part of Windsor) and then to Amherstburg as a teen.
I was close to my paternal Grandmother and look up to her to this day. She had many sisters and brothers and some of them, I really got along with. For instance, Vena (a neice)lived with my grandmother and I knew her well. Myrtle (another neice) and her mother my grandmother's sister Grace were so friendly and often played checkers with me - my nuclear family were the only family left to attend her funeral. She was always so positive despite the fact she had experienced so many trials.
One characteristic of all was the strong Christian faith. My grandmother wanted me to be a minister (after she failed to get my father to go that route although he did do some lay preaching, as have I. I did not feel God's call. It is interesting that two of my son's have moved in that direction.
I consider that I grew up in a normal environment with a strong mother and absentee (busy rather than disinterested) father. My father was a lawyer and also served on many community boards, such as the District Boy Scouts, Family Services, etc. He was deeply into politics when I was young and ran for political office in Ottawa when I was a baby. He would often speak at dinners and things and take me - father and son banquets, only when he was speaking, we did not even get to enjoy each other's company.
After my parent's death I began to realize how much I missed the approval and love of my parents, even when I was small. I know that my father used to brag about me BUT I never felt his love first hand. He was a good father, in that he never drank, never was violent or argumentative BUT he left me a legacy of not "being called into manhood", something which several books I have read indicate is a role a father should and must play.