Obituary of Gordon Lindsay
LINDSAY, James Gordon
James Gordon (Gord) Lindsay passed away peacefully at his home in Kingston on March 1, 2022. Born June 16, 1925, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he is survived by his four loving children, Sharon Swaby (Stephen Swaby) of Sacramento, California; Heather Lindsay of Hudson, Quebec; Geoffrey Lindsay (Joy Tremblay) of Kingston; and David Lindsay (Janice Downton) of Carlisle, Ontario. He will be greatly missed by his grandchildren, Jason Newcomen (Nilu Al-Shourbaji) of Montreal, Kevin Newcomen (Kristina Laperle) of Ottawa, Rachel Swaby (Tim Leong) of Los Angeles, and Sean Swaby of Brooklyn, New York; and by his great-grandchildren, Rachel and Tim’s Linus and Simone, and Jay and Nilu’s Kian. Gord was predeceased by his loving wife of over 70 years, Shirley May (Woolmer) Lindsay.
Gord grew up in Brandon, Manitoba, attending Brandon College before moving to Hamilton, Ontario, to pursue an MSc and PhD in physical chemistry under Dr. Harry Thode at McMaster University. He was very proud to be one of the first two PhD graduates in chemistry from McMaster in 1951. Gord met Shirley in Hamilton, and after Gord graduated, they married and moved to Arvida, Quebec (now Saguenay). They spent 22 years there while Gord worked for Alcan Aluminum, first as a researcher, then in management. At times his job required travel, and in his later years he loved to tell stories of time spent in Europe, Asia, and South America. After working at Alcan’s head office in Montreal for three years, Gord was transferred to Jamaica where he and Shirley spent eight of the happiest years of their life together.
On his return to Canada, Gord and Shirley moved to Kingston where Gord retired from Alcan to a life of travel, genealogy research, and service. Gord had joined Rotary in Jamaica, and he continued his commitment to Rotary at the Kingston Frontenac Rotary Club for the rest of his life, publishing the weekly bulletin for many years, and participating in bingo nights and peanut sales well into his eighties. More recently, he attended meetings via Zoom, where he enjoyed listening to a variety of speakers.
Gord was a technology whiz, his first home computer being the Apple IIc, and his last being the latest MacBook Air. He often knew about new apps before his children or grandchildren did. He had an insatiable curiosity about the world and its people, and he kept in touch electronically with friends from all over.
One of Gord’s passions was writing, and over the years he chronicled many funny and poignant stories about his family. He was a self-published author, transcribing and editing the diary of a Lindsay ancestor who had emigrated from Belfast to the Australian Outback in the 1880s. The book continues to sell well on Amazon, particularly in Australia. He also wrote a family history of the Lindsays of Dundonald, Northern Ireland, based on his genealogical research. The research for that book led Gord to discover and to become friends with cousins in Ireland and elsewhere.
Gord will be sorely missed by his family and all those who knew him. He will be cremated and, by his choice, no funeral service will be held. A celebration of his life will be held in the future. Donations in his memory may be sent to the Kingston Frontenac Rotary Club or made online at https://www.kfrotary.org/page/donate .
