Bobbe (Dolores Robina) MacDonald passed away at the age of 90 in the evening of June 24 ,2021 at Herb Bassett Homes in Prince Albert.  Bobbe was born on November 7, 1930 in the Cupar District, SK.  During the 2^nd world war Bobbe’s family moved into Regina and she graduated grade 12 at Central Collegiate.  Bobbe married in 1950 and started a family while moving to North Battleford and eventually ending up in PA in the late 50’s.  In 1961 Bobbe and family moved to the farm north of PA, where Bobbe fell in love with the farming life.  Bobbe spent 55+ years living on the farm.  It was during this time that after 36 years of marriage Bobbe and Marvin “agreed to disagree” and both went their separate and happier ways.  Single life appealed to Bobbe, which allowed her personality to bloom.  Vibrant, enthusiastic, forward thinking/looking, ahead of her time, straight shooter, (always) glass half full person, are just a few of the words and phrases that have been used to describe this remarkable woman.

Outside of family, first on the list of Bobbe’s life long passions was playing Bridge.   Her Bridge playing started as teenager in Regina where Sunday afternoon in her household was booked to play Bridge with her parents and brother.  Her interest in Bridge only grew from there.  Bobbe was on the founding executive of the Prince Albert Duplicate Bridge Club in the early 60’s.  Bobbe taught bridge lessons for years which insured a steady supply of new players for the Club.  Bobbe was Prince Albert’s first certified ACBL Director, which allowed for ACBL master points to be given out at club games.  Bobbe obtained one of her life long dreams of becoming an ACBL Life Masters in 1980 and finished her competitive Bridge playing with her Silver Life Masters.  In 2018 Bobbe’s hard work in promoting the game of bridge was recognized by her being Inducted into the Bridge Wall of Fame for ACBL’s District 18 (Wyoming, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Utah, Montana and Idaho).

Bobbe was also an avid participant in Canadian and Saskatchewan politics.  Bobbe worked many campaigns for her local NDP candidates.  All Federal leadership conventions were watched from start to finish in Bobbe’s household.  She parlayed that political experience into getting elected to the PA Health Board for a term.  Bobbe was also an active Kinette member in her early years in PA and served on the Kinsmen National Executive for a year.

Bobbe was determined to have a relationship with her 5 grandchildren.  In the grandkids younger years this involved all sorts of card games, followed by Boogle, Password or any game brought to the table. By the time each grandchild hit teenage years their relationships were strong and in true Bobbe fashion those only grew over the years.  Each grandchild went on a trip with Bobbe and her house on the farm was the center of many gatherings and competitive tournaments playing the game of the day.  Bobbe had started to build the same relationship with her older great grandkids, however COVID and health worked against her with the younger ones.

Bobbe was an ardent patron and supporter of Live Theatre.  She volunteered at PA’s Rawlinson Center for several years.  All her family, including grandkids, have attended live theatre with her many times over the years.  Bobbe was always first in line for all grandkid performances.

Frugal is another very apt description of Bobbe.  While we as a family knew that she was always frugal, the whole world was able to see how she could stretch a buck once she was single.  Bobbe’s frugality allowed her to travel to many places around the world including China, Australia/New Zealand, Europe and Caribbean.  Bobbe’s frugality was evident in her wardrobe as a young and middle age woman as she was a very good seamstress and made all her own outfits from patterns.  This allowed Bobbe to generally be ahead of PA’s trending fashions, which she enjoyed to no end.

Bobbe’s working history started in Regina as a phone operator.  That quickly changed to being a fulltime Mom and once on the farm she was a fulltime Mom/farmer.  After the end of her marriage Bobbe worked at many different jobs, managed the farm until overseeing the sale of all the land but her yard, while transforming her farm yard, where the many trees she planted will be growing for years.  She worked in La Ronge and Meadow Lake doing taxes, was a nanny in North Battleford and she started a bed and breakfast business known as Bobbe’s Bird Watching Ranch.

Bobbe will be sadly missed by her surviving children Joel (Sandra), Jay (Deb) and Jillian (Maggie), 5 grandchildren Amanda (Adam), John Robert, Sheena, Jarred, Alexis (Kent) and 8 great grandchildren Zac (Alandra), Caden, Leigha, Mason, Beaux, Cooper, Joey and Theo.  She was predeceased by her parents Doug and Hazel and her brother Doug (Janine).

Bobbe spent her last 5-6 weeks in palliative care.  During this time, we met a lot of dedicated caregivers from Mak Lodge, PA Home and Palliative Care and Herb Bassett Homes and we would like to thank them all for their support.  We feel Bobbe passed without pain, however through no fault of anyone her time in palliative care was not peaceful.  Bobbe bequeathed her body to the University of Saskatchewan, College of Medicine.  They could use her body for up to three years.  The University will cremate and return the ashes to the family at there determination.  As per Bobbe’s will there will be no funeral and there will be a family wake held in the near future to Celebrate her Life.

In lieu of flowers or in her memory we ask for you to support the Prince Albert Arts community by donating to  The EA Rawlinson Centre for the Arts, Prince Albert, Sk.  Donate online at https://tickets.citypa.ca/TheatreManager/1/login?donation=0 in the Campaign drop-down menu you can hit a button that says in Memory of Bobbe MacDonald.  Or People can make donations in person or over the phone through the Box Office as well: (306) 765-1270.

• Date : 2021-06-24
• Location : Prince Albert