Age 64, of Margaree Forks, NS, passed away unexpectedly at the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax on Thursday, April 27th, 2023 due to complications following heart surgery.<\/p>\n
Blair was the third of six children, born on June 11, 1958 in Cheticamp, to Austin and Joan (Andrews) McDaniel. He was passionate about fishing, hunting, and farming. He would often be found down at \u2018the point\u2019 or at Tanner\u2019s Run with his rod catching fish, or maybe even picking berries to bring home to his grandchildren. His earliest jobs were working in the woods and with the Department of Highways. He spent many years working as a bricklayer, so drives around Cape Breton would have him pointing out all of the chimneys that he had built. Every day would include a trip to \u2018the Goat\u2019 for his coffee, where the staff would always have his order ready to go. The last years of his life were spent working as a bus driver, and the happiness and safety of the children on his bus was of great importance to him.<\/p>\n
He was incredibly proud of his three sons – the seventh generation to live on \u2018the hill\u2019. He was always quick to share their accomplishments and the latest news about their families. Above all, his grandchildren were his greatest pride and joy in life. Teaching them to fish and hunt, taking them for tractor rides, making them some \u2018Poppy toast\u2019, and having them ask for gum from the front left pocket of his plaid shirt are just some special ways that memories were made. He was also always very proud to attend events that supported his grandchildren like Antigonish Bulldogs hockey games and events supporting Autism Nova Scotia.<\/p>\n
Poppy served his community as a Life Member of the Margaree Kinsmen, and volunteered for the likes of the St. Patrick\u2019s Hall Committee, and the Western Cape Breton Cursillo and Challenge Movements. He also took great pride in serving his community by plowing driveways after heavy snowfalls, delivering fresh-caught fish to senior citizens, and caring for neighboring summer properties. He was able to hold a conversation with pretty much anyone, as storytelling was one of his many gifts.<\/p>\n
Blair is survived by his loving wife of 41 years, Stella (Doucet), his three sons Matthew (Amber), St. Andrews, Jason (Sarah), Margaree Forks, Christopher (Mariah), Bible Hill, and his five beautiful grandchildren: Myles, Ty, Ainsley, Layla and Wyatt. Blair is also survived by his brother George (Danette), Lower Sackville, brother-in-law Bernie (Rose Anne) MacIsaac, and sister-in-law Donna. He is further survived by his brothers-in-law Isidore (Delina), Dennis (Bertha), and Daniel (Marcella) Doucet, sisters-in-law Rosella (Stephen) Chiasson, Dora Aucoin and Marie-Stella Doucet, as well as his aunts Shirley (Claude) and Debbie, uncle David (Diane), two Godchildren, Adrian and Rebecca, and many nieces, nephews, and cousins.<\/p>\n
Blair was predeceased by his parents, Austin and Joan, his brothers Billy, Herbie and Frankie, his sister Sherri-Lee, and his father-in-law and mother-in-law, Arthur and Margaret Doucet. He was likewise predeceased by his brothers-in-law Freddie LeBlanc, Raymond Doucet and Edgar Aucoin, and his sister-in-law Marie LeBlanc.<\/p>\n
Visitation will take place on Monday May 1st, 2023 from 2-4 pm and 7-9 pm at St. Patrick\u2019s Hall, NE Margaree. A funeral Service will take place on Tuesday May 2nd, 2023 at St. Patrick\u2019s Church, NE Margaree at 11 am, presided by Fr. Silvichan Dominic with interment to follow in St. Patrick\u2019s Cemetery.<\/p>\n
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Blair\u2019s memory to the Margaree Salmon Association to contribute to restoration efforts along parts of the Margaree River, which he greatly loved and where he spent much of his time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Age 64, of Margaree Forks, NS, passed away unexpectedly at the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax on Thursday, April 27th, 2023 due to complications following heart surgery. Blair was the third of six children, born on June 11, 1958 in Cheticamp, to Austin and Joan (Andrews) McDaniel. He was passionate about fishing, hunting, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-obituaries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cheticampfuneralservices.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cheticampfuneralservices.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cheticampfuneralservices.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheticampfuneralservices.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheticampfuneralservices.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheticampfuneralservices.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheticampfuneralservices.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cheticampfuneralservices.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheticampfuneralservices.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheticampfuneralservices.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}