Friends & Family are welcome to join us in a Celebration of Life that will take place on Saturday July 5th 2025
at the Waldhof Hall, Waldhof NW Ontario, from 2:00 to 7:00.
Dale Anne MacKenzie believed she should live her life to the fullest, and when she
could no longer live a full active life, she wanted to die in her sleep in her own bed.
This is what happened to her on December 21, 2024 at the age of 78.
Living her life to the fullest meant being a social work clinician, a senior government
administrator, a fierce environmental advocate, a gourmet cook, an accomplishe
artist with many shows and sales, and a classical pianist. She was a strong athlete
who was an advanced yoga practitioner, paddled a swift canoe, a trophy winning
boardsailor, and she went like the wind when she cross-country skied. She looked
back with some pride of the times in her 20’s when she was one of the only women
in Northwest Ontario who was qualified to drive a large tandem-axel dump truck fo
an asphalt company.
When completing an MSW at the University of Manitoba, she was instrumental in
the establishment of the Portage Shelter for abused women and their children in
Portage La Prairie, Manitoba. She was Executive Director of the Manitoba
Government’s Employee Assistance Program, a counselling and resource program
for 11,000 employees. In this capacity she worked with every Department across
government from Deputy Ministers to front line employees.
She was raised at her parents’ fishing lodge on Eagle Lake in Northwest Ontario
Dale always had a love of wilderness and wildlife. She spent 16 years fighting to
protect Farabout Peninsula on Eagle Lake that was to be clear-cut by loggers. Dale
was a natural leader who pulled together a local, dedicated Coalition that included
residents, businesses, naturalists, and Migisi First Nation. For that effort she wa
awarded an Ontario Nature Achievement Award in 2019. She led the way in
securing a Suzuki Foundation award and the formal recognition of Farabout
Peninsula as a Healing Forest under the aegis of Migisi Shawinigan. Dale was seen
as a model, mentor and inspiration by many women in the environmental
movement.
Dale and her “one and only” love, Barry Trute were together for 44 years. They
travelled in Europe, South America, North Africa, and South-East Asia together.
They spent long periods in New Zealand where Barry worked and Dale enjoyed the
great treks of Aotearoa. They built two lake-front cabins together and escaped to
them over 27 summers.
She was a kind, generous, positive, and loving person. And many, many people
loved her right back.
Dale is survived by her husband Barry Trute of Nelson BC, her brother Graham
MacKenzie (Lynda Anderson) of Dryden ON and her sister Robin Moore of Ignace
ON.
Cremation has taken place in Nelson BC.
Friends & Family are welcome to join us in a Celebration of Life that will take place on Saturday July 5th 2025 at the Waldhof Hall, Waldhof NW Ontario, from 2:00 to 7:00.
