It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Ted MacLeay of Red Deer, Alberta at the Red Deer Hospice on Saturday, February 27, 2021 at the age of 64 years. He was in his home until February 23, 2021 with his family and pets.

Tribute to TED: Ted was known to love his wife Sharon, his kids (Vanessa, Tila, Ryan), and his granddaughter (Kinsley) as well as the rest of his family & friends. He was able to enjoy the birth of his granddaughter, Kinsley, luckily was able see her through her first year of life and to celebrate her first birthday. She was the blessing and bright light for Ted during the last 13 months. Having beautiful Kinsley in his life this past year has brought Ted extreme joy. Kinsley arrived at the right time and was a perfect distraction. She was one of the reasons that he fought so hard and always talked about the things she was starting to do. Ted was a family man who was always there and would do anything for them, no matter what it required. Ted grew up in Kingston, Ontario and loved his adoptive parents Gordon and Eleanor. He also loved his brothers Ron (and wife Lorraine) and Rob. Right from being a best uncle of Ron’s kids (Sean, Tyler, Caylee), to being a loving caring parent to his kids (Vanessa, Tila, Ryan) and to being a grandfather to Kinsley, he loved all his family and was there for each and everyone one of them.

Ted’s wife, kids, and then granddaughter were the most important to him and he was protective of them. He looked after Sharon 100%, no matter what was going on in his life. He wanted to make sure she was ok and always asked if she needed anything. He took on the primary care of the children when they were young and whenever Sharon was not feeling well, without any hesitation. Ted and Sharon were like peas in a pod, if you see one, you see the other. Ted supported everything his wife and children did in their lives. He and the kids did the MS Walk every year from about 2001. From 2003 to 2006, Sharon did MS Peer Support as well as volunteering for the MS Society. During the years of 2004 to 2006, Ted, with Sharon, gathered friends and joined the MS walk committee where they organized and brought in additional friends to volunteer for the MS Walks each year. He was always involved in the support of the 5 year school reunions that Sharon was part of and helped as well. Later on in years, he was always supportive of Sharon’s pet rescue efforts. Also, he put up with many cats in the house and helped Sharon foster cats/kittens and helped a lot with those, even the feral ones, as well helped with the rescue. Ted even worked for the Dry Grad for Tila. He made sure he was involved in anything Sharon and the kids did. If Sharon had a DYI idea, Ted was always there to do them with the family. If someone needed help, he was always there. Ted and Sharon were best friends and had an eerie ESP communication. They pretty much knew everything about each other and thought the same on many things.

Ted’s favorite thing to do was to be with his wife Sharon. They loved to travel with each other. Ted had a few interests like camping with family & friends. ATV’ing and a fire pit at the end of the day was something he really enjoyed. He really loved the outdoors and warmer months. In the summer he can be found on the deck with family, friends, and a beer. He was an Oilers fan and had friendly banter with others about their teams. He liked classic rock music. Ted has always played card games, board games, and Backgammon for hours on end with a beer in hand. He had a running 40+ year tournament of Backgammon & the card game of Crib with one of his long time friends. Every time they got together, they made sure they got in a few games. Just don’t play Monopoly with him because of his playing style. In the last few years, he’s played a lot of Catan with the family. Ted always loved Halloween and would put special attention into the large Halloween display at the house by dressing up and joking with the kids and their parents. He really liked to see everyone enjoying the evening. Ted also took part in setting up the very large Christmas display at the house as well. This past year was a special one because he was cheering up a neighborhood kid on a daily basis as she was enjoying the display. He helped her parents make it a special Christmas for their children. He would go above and beyond to help where he could. In the recent years, he had taken up hunting and was very happy when November came along so he could go out to hunt. The freezer was always full of meat. Ted loved his variety of pets from cats & dogs to ferrets, rabbits, reptiles & snakes with other creatures in the house. He supplied feed for them as well, so there were mice and crickets in the home as well. He cooked and was very proud of his culinary delights. Ted also liked growing vegetable gardens as well as make beer & rum.

Some big highlights of Ted’s life include his wife, his children, his family, and his friends. Ted joined the Military Reserves at a young age for a couple of years that took him to a few areas across the country. Later, he lived back in Kingston, Edmonton, Calgary, Banff, Vancouver, and Red Deer. He lived with quite a few of his friends during the years. What was memorable about Vancouver was having his daughter, Vanessa, born in Burnaby with his first wife. Also, Ted’s son, Ryan, was born there later too with his wife, Sharon, in New Westminster. While in Kingston, a memorable job was re-fueling & de-icing planes at the Kingston Airport where he got to meet some celebrities. Ted also met his wife, Sharon, and her young daughter, Tila in Kingston. Memorable highlights while in Banff was working for Parks Canada, Cooking at the Grizzly House, and of course the large group of friends he made there. He became part of the largest group of friends that have all stayed together for 40+ years. They are known as the Slugs. Banff and the Slugs are one of the biggest parts of his life besides his family and other friends. Many people have heard many stories about the Slugs. Ted was always involved in setting up the Slugfest reunions every 10 years and then they went to every 5 years. To this day, they have always been great support for Ted in his ventures, along with his childhood friends, older friends, and new friends. Messages from the Slugs are: “Slugs enjoyed being a part of his life journey as well. Would not have been the same without Ted and his quirky sense of humour. It’s been a hell of a ride and one we won’t forget. There would never have been Slugs or a Slugfest without Ted. He was always the glue that kept the ragtag group of friends together and will always be part of us.” What is memorable about Red Deer is that he lived with Sharon and family for 27.5 years which is the longest place he has lived and he has met so many people.

Even since childhood, Ted was a very sociable person who loved to be with family & friends and bring them together for visits & parties. Ted accepted people for who they were and connected with most people that he met. He has many childhood friends that were attracted to him right away, became fast friends, and are still very close in his life. No matter where he went, including stores, etc. he was always chatting with people there. INFORMATION FROM HIS FAMILY & FRIENDS ARE: He loved to have a fun time and was known to be funny, joke and always make them laugh. He loved to laugh and had a crazy laugh, wicked sense of humor, brought most of the laughs and kept them laughing right from the time of talking with people. He was an excellent host and the life of a party. Ted had a love of life and a larger than life personality, always had something to say, had strong opinions but was a good debater who listened to others opinions, no topic was off limits, unorthodox at time, never quite knew what he would say sometimes that were shocking and very humorous often so that kept people on their toes. He was strong willed and being sarcastic came naturally. Ted was a special, one of a kind, best person whose humor & determination, with love of family & friends along with his furry and slithery & scaly children made him a great human. Ted had a zest for life, was good natured, fun, sweet and instantly clicked with people with that type of personality. Ted really loved his friends & family very dear to him. Was the jack of many things to everyone bringing smiles and bringing such a big heart to others. Ted also instantly clicked and was part of Sharon’s friends too.

Ted was a very loving, amazingly caring, selfless, giving, kind person. He always had time to talk, to be a shoulder, and to always be there for everyone when they needed him. He would do anything for his family & friends at anytime, even if he was already busy. He was thoughtful, a compassionate sole, and always cared for people’s well being before his own and put their needs before his own. Ted was always showing everyone how much he cared for them. He always ensured that people in his life knew that he was there for them. Ted was one of the most genuine people of all that people had the pleasure of knowing. He will be deeply missed by everyone who was lucky enough to know him. Ted was always a please and thank you person with anyone who ever did things for him. Many people did things for him and his family during his battle and they were all thanked! If you did something for him, he made sure you knew how appreciated he was. Ted often mentioned how much he appreciated people that were there for him and have helped him and Sharon like Wayne Parker (Red Deer). Ted had a heart of gold for family & friends!

Some of his highlights from his next door neighbour of 18 years and a great friend Wayne Macleod (Red Deer) are:
Ted readily shared his thoughts on everything from growing tomatoes to politics, enjoyed spirited debate and discussion but always respected other points of view (unless you didn’t like the Oilers). He was generous with his time, he would help with anything at any time and there was always a laugh involved. He shared his knowledge, connections and expertise unselfishly with everyone. When we did Halloween he reveled at meeting new people, giving away candy, scaring kids (just a bit) and making sure they all got a great picture. It made all the setup work worthwhile. Summer activities like fire pits, sitting in the sun and blowing off yard work to have a beer will be less enjoyable now. A great friend with a great laugh, his passing leaves a hole in our lives.

During the battle, Ted and Sharon were able to go to Banff to have a kind of farewell get together with some of the slugs. They were also able to do a 1 day trip to Banff as well. During the summer, friends & family made sure to come and visit with Ted and his family. Ted also was able to get out for a couple of nights camping in the bush.

Ted had a zest for life and lived it to the fullest even to the best of his abilities at his nearing end days. He had a great attitude until the end. Ted fought very hard and put up a courageous fight against cancer. He was a fighter until the end. He surpassed all expectations. He had some goals to meet which were to see the birth of his granddaughter, to see his and Sharon’s birthdays, to see Halloween, to see Christmas, to see his 30 year anniversary with Sharon, to see his granddaughters 1st birthday and to see Valentine’s Day in which he did. Ted fought so hard to beat this monster and he couldn’t do it without Sharon. They were both so brave and made the most beautiful memories together. They have been so courageous throughout this whole deal. They have lived the best lives they have had to endure. Ted knew and was very loved by Sharon, the kids, family, and friends. Ted and Sharon both knew how much they were loved, the comfort of knowing many people were praying for them both. Sharon’s strength, courage and most of all her huge heart helped Ted live and love life through the battle and sharing the journey together. They are a blessing to many. The way Ted and Sharon shared their lives is an inspiration to many. Ted will be never forgotten and missed by all.

Ted fought a large 15 month battle from Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPNs) and Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) which are related to bone marrow and developing red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Both are rare but even rarer to have both together. This all started because he was getting more and more tired all the time so he went to see his doctor. It was discovered that he had a major lung virus. In the beginning, tests just kept saying there were more and more things wrong and then they found the diseases from his bone marrow. Chemo (2 shots in the stomach for the first 7 days of each month which made his guts hurt) did not make any changes after 6 months in the diseases so he quit doing Chemo. He was transfusion dependent for blood, platelets, and a few times for potassium. When he was getting transfusions, they had to give him high doses of Benadryl for reactions that really tired him out for those days. His time frames kept getting shorter and shorter as the diseases were more aggressive than first thought. He was not a candidate for bone marrow transplant as his survival rate for that was very low. He also had many CT scans, x-rays, and MRI’s among other tests needed for symptoms. He had many stays at the hospital for a couple of days or so at a time.
– Other issues Ted had to deal with because of the diseases were: Lung virus’, spleen enlargement, pneumonia in both lungs, fungal infection in his throat, fatigue, dizziness, blood pressure, heartbeats, and iron levels were to be watched, viral infection in his sinus, then lung cancer which is curable but won’t be doing anything for it, a brain bleed from a fall being fatigue but can’t do surgery, 2 strokes (Palliative care was discussed) & brain got bad, UTI’s, and limited legs and hand use.
– After the strokes in the summer he bounced back again and was ok, but in October, he started declining again with his numbers out of whack, body was not making any blood or platelets, he was weak, hurting, using the walker, sleeping, barely walking , blood in nose, mouth & urine and bleeding internally, freezing but had night sweats, had another UTI, sleeping more and other ailments, blood not holding, nose got packed, sore & swollen but no one knew what it was (we think it broke his nose).He had a nosebleed that had to be cauterized. Ted had swollen feet and had not been able to wear socks and shoes for a very long time. He started to have throat problems where it was hard to swallow.
– Another hospital stay found 2 more brain bleeds so nose was not a concern anymore, he had headaches, spleen was very enlarged & painful, bad kidney infection with an abscess and with pain (he was placed in the Palliative care ward), following asleep and numbers were all over the place (they brought in an Internist Doctor, an Infections Specialist, and a Hematologist as well, his oxygen levels were low (Hospice or home was discussed but he went home with meds). He got really tired, needed full time oxygen and was spitting up blood and in his urine again. Then sleeping a lot more and could barely stay awake and not eating much but drinking lots of fluids. Now he was hot all the time. He went for his chosen last transfusions but ended up staying in emergency that night as his Oncologist said he would have 2 – 3 days left. He was checked into Red Deer Hospice Society and passed away 2 days later.

Ted will be lovingly remembered by his wife Sharon, his children Vanessa MacLeay (Chance) of Calgary, Tila MacLeod Laurence (Cory) of Calgary, Ryan MacLeay (Ashlea) with his granddaughter Kinsley MacLeay of Red Deer. Ted will be missed by his brothers Ronald MacLeay (Lorraine) of Port Coquitlam and Robert MacLeay of Kingston. Ted will be missed by his nephews Sean (Valerie), Tyler (Natasha) with Addison & Jordan as well as his niece Caylee (Paul) with Deighton (Dei) & Quinn in the Vancouver area. Ted will be missed by his mother-in-law Dianne Fallow Mueller (Ed) of Red Deer. Ted will be missed by Sharon’s family, many other family members and dear friends. Ted was predeceased by his father Gordon MacLeay and his mother Eleanor MacLeay of Kingston.

Celebration of Life will be help in Banff in August at a date to be determined.
Memorial donations: Canadian Cancer Society in Ted’s name, MS Society of Canada in Ted and Sharon’s name, Red Deer Hospice Society in Ted and Sharon’s name.

Arrangements in care of:

Parkland Funeral Home and Crematorium (Red Deer),

6287 – 67 A Street (Taylor Drive), Red Deer. 403.340.4040.

ONLY LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED FUNERAL HOME/CREMATORIUM

IN THE CITY OF RED DEER.

• Date : 2021-03-11
• Location : www.ParklandFuneralHome.com - Red Deer/Blackfalds/Eckville