Donald (Don) Everett McLean

December 4, 1938 - May 20, 2024

Don McLean passed away peacefully on May 20, 2024 at Jubilee Lodge, Edmonton. He will be dearly missed by his wife, Ruth (ne: Gibson), his sons, Lorne McLean (Sheila), Lance McLean, and his daughter, Lesley Weiss (Tim) and his son-in-law, Wes Caldwell (Emmy), his sixteen grandchildren and two great granddaughters, his brother Robert McLean (Nancy), brother-in- law, George Zapach, and many aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews. Predeceasing  him: mother, Kathleen McLean, father, Adelbert McLean, daughter, Lynette Caldwell, and sister, Isabelle Zapach.

Don was born at home on a farm in Tees, Alberta on December 4, 1938. As a young boy, he enjoyed playing with his cousins and school friends who lived nearby. He tinkered with various mechanical and electrical projects. A big interest of his was in Ham radios. After high school, in Mirror, Don worked, for a short time, in construction in Lacombe. Wanting to expand his horizons, he left the farm to move to Edmonton where he lived with his sister Isabelle, who was attending University at the time. Don took a job as a traveling salesman selling electronics across Northern Alberta and into B.C. At age 19, at Fundamental Baptist Church, he found Christian fellowship and accepted Christ as his Lord and Saviour. In 1962 he went to Berean College in Calgary where he met the love of his life, Ruth. Between school years, his brother-in-law, George Zapach, hired him as a painter for Bel-Aire Apartments in Edmonton. After they graduated, Don and Ruth married in Calgary, on August 21, 1965. In the fall of the same year, they moved to Tofield, where Don served as a lay Pastor with Gospel Missionary Association in Tofield and Kingman. Early into their marriage Don and Ruth settled in the Edmonton/ Sherwood Park area where they brought up their four children. Don and his friend Mike Biro started an electronics business back in the day of tube televisions and transistor radios before getting into residential and commercial real estate which he did for over 40 years. 

Don was an artist at heart who had a passion for watercolour paintings. He loved to sketch and paint. He spent several years hosting national and international artist workshops in Vancouver, Jasper, Edmonton and Sherwood Park. 

A memorial service will be held at Sherwood Park Alliance Church on July 2, 2024 at 1:00pm.

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