John Macnab Born December 25, 1954 Passed away May 2, 2024
Denise and I spent the weekend in Nelson, BC where we attended a Celebration of Life for John.
I had never met John or his immediate family but his passing has left a hole in my heart.
The surreal part was that John and I were brothers. Half siblings but brothers none the less.
On January 22, 2024 my cousin Donna Hicks Biggs received a message from John regarding a couple of names in his Ancestry.ca profile. My name and my son Taylor’s. Donna had posted a photo where she mentioned my Aunt’s maiden name of Haime. John matched it to his dna report.
Donna sent Johns contact info to me and over a number of chats on Facebook John and I came to the realization that we shared a father.
I had a brother! Unfortunately the joy was short lived. In fact it only lived for 3.5 months.
John never knew who his father was until we figured it out in January of this year. I never knew I had a brother until January of this year. Our father met his mother years before my dad married my mother. I do not think my father ever knew about John.
Over the next couple of months I shared information on our father and John shared his life information. I was thrilled. John appeared excited to fill in this missing info on his heritage.
We agreed that in the summer we would get together and meet in person at his acreage in Nelson.
In May everything changed. Unfortunately John passed away suddenly on the property he loved. Apparently John had an unknown heart condition. He died beside a beautiful creek in the woods where he spent many hours.
This past weekend, although obviously a sad occasion, was a very enlightening time spent with people reminiscing about the John they knew and loved. John worked all over the world but always came back to his home in the Nelson area.
The number of people who came up to me and commented on how I reminded them of John was very humbling. The impact John made on his family, friends, neighbours and others was impressive. At the same time John was a man who was at peace with the world and his place in it.
Thank you to all of his family including Saturday, Libby and Rhonda amongst others for including me in their grief and remembrances.
My sadness has two parts with being sad at the loss of a man beloved by many and also sad at the lost opportunity to bond further with my brother.
A reminder about the fragility of life and to not put off until tomorrow those things that are important to you.
