Article contentIt was not just the bridge. He is fondly remembered for making sure the Wood Islands to Caribou ferry kept running through years when the federal government’s appetite for subsidizing that crossing thinned. He delivered the MV Confederation, the last ferry specifically built for the service. For the eastern end of the province, that ferry was never a tourist novelty. It was a lifeline, for trade and for family, and MacKay, who lived less than 50 kilometres away on Lorne Station Road, understood the difference between a service and a mere symbol.Article contentThe success of many entities rests on the guidance through infancy. Elmer helped guide the creation of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency when the true head office was in Moncton and the entire focus was on growing the economy of Atlantic Canada.Article contentObituaries of those who serve in public life focus heavily on that public role, but the true measure of an individual is often clearest in their private life. Elmer never missed a beat in his transition from private practice to public life, back to private life. His quiet attention to people, community, and building for the future was consistent whether caring for family, friends, animals or forests.Article contentArticle contentFor the last three decades, Elmer, with the support of his wife Sharon, never ceased to make a difference. Theirs was a marriage as generous and as steady as the public record he left behind, a beautiful life built with care and compassion, the same way he lived and loved his five children, 14 grandchildren, sister and everyone else that mattered to him.Article contentAs his health began to fail, it was Sharon who was unwavering, steady in her love and support, working without rest to make his final years as special as the man himself.Article contentLasting legacyArticle contentElmer MacKay was one of the greatest influences on my life. He shaped nearly everything I know about leadership, service, humility and integrity, across more than 36 years of his championship, love and support.Article contentIn our last telephone call a month ago, he left me with a few lines from an old English and Scottish ballad, the story of a wounded sea captain who refuses to stop fighting, who tells his men he will lie down, catch his breath, and rise again. He recited it to me from memory, the same way others remember him quoting Shakespeare, Sir Edmund Burke or Theodore Roosevelt, mid-conversation and without warning. The meaning was never, ever lost on me. That was quintessential Elmer MacKay. Right to the very end.Article contentArticle contentAs a Prince Edward Islander, I am grateful beyond words for his life, and for his support and his advocacy of my province. The descriptions of him in his obituaries, generous without publicity, loyal without calculation, plainspoken about big things, are the same man I knew and loved.Article contentElmer Macintosh MacKay represented stewardship. He understood, in a way that has become rare in public life, that representing a place and its citizens means being answerable to it long after the cameras and the votes are gone.Article contentSome politicians are remembered for the offices they held. Elmer MacKay will be remembered, on this Island as much as in Pictou County, for a bridge that connects us to the mainland, a ferry that kept running when it might not have, and a standard of devotion that outlasted every title he ever carried.Article contentHe is now at rest. He served Atlantic Canada with distinction, this most precious Island province included.Article content“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” — John 15:13Article contentArticle contentDarren W. Peters is a senior vice-president and consultant with think2perform. He lives in Charlottetown.Article content
TRIBUTE: Elmer MacIntosh MacKay: Cut from a rare timber
