Jessie Isabel (MacKichan) McCurdy - Age 100, passed away peacefully on January 31, 2022, in her home in Melville Gardens, Halifax. Born in Cleveland, Richmond County, she was a daughter of John Howard MacKichan and Christina Isabel (Mauger) MacKichan. Jessie finished grade 10 in the nearby one room school, then took grade 11 at the Convent School in Arichat.
After teaching in Roberta, Cape Breton, Jessie went to Teachers’ College in Truro, then returned home to teach in Cleveland, where her students included her younger siblings. During four years as a junior high teacher in Port Hawkesbury, she earned her own grade 12 certificate! After a short stint teaching in Liverpool, Jessie accepted a position at Bloomfield School in Halifax. For five years she delighted in her special needs students, whose progress she followed for decades.
Jessie married Charles McCurdy in 1949, and devoted herself to him and their five children. Their home was open to both family and friends; the dining room table always had room for more. Mom’s many talents included baking, cooking, sewing, cross-stitch, entertaining, planning picnics and camping trips, budgeting, teaching, and encouraging.
When the kids were grown, Jessie worked for Simpsons-Sears in a variety of roles. She lived a life where church was central: first at Cleveland, then at St. Matthew’s in Halifax, and for the last sixty years, at Bethany United, where she was a life member of the United Church Women. Jessie showed her faith by living every day with integrity, respecting the people she met, showing patience in every situation, and extending love to those around her. She accepted everyone with grace and love, and made you feel that you were the most important person in the room. Not interested in being the centre of attention, she focused her efforts on everyone else. She truly had a servant’s heart.
Jessie is survived by her children, Leslie (Katharina), Glenn (Linda), Katherine (David), David (Andrea), and Christeen (Jim); grandchildren, Sarah (Anthony), Paul, Micah (Anna), Kelsey, Katlyn, Stephanie, James (Celine), Andrew (Natalie), Christeen, Carolyn (Colin), Michael, and Jason; great-grandchildren, Delilah, Edmund, Nicolas, and Lily; sister, Christeen Russell and brother, Harold MacKichan; and many nieces and nephews.
She was predeceased by her husband, Charles in 2020, and siblings, Ralph, Katherine, Lillian, Jean, and James.
Funeral plans will be announced at a later date. The family would like to thank the compassionate staff at Parkland at the Gardens, and at Melville Gardens.
