"Mal" George Malcom Goldie

 It is with profound sadness that our family announces the passing of George Malcolm Goldie, a loving Husband, Father, Grandfather and Great Grandfather, on April 22, 2022.  Mal passed away from a sudden unexpected illness at the age of 89.  

Mal was born and raised in Medicine Hat, Alberta and married his high school sweetheart Annie Cairney in 1955, a marriage that lasted over 66 years. After numerous moves through the province and country, Mal & Annie settled with their 5 children at Erith Tie, on the Coal Branch. With the children leaving and finding their own paths, Mal and Anne moved into Edson where he resided until his passing.

Mal’s community spirit and volunteering began at an early age when he joined the Riverside Cub Pack then moved onto Scouts, where he acquired many proficiency badges. He was immensely proud to become a King Scout and was selected by the Provincial Boy Scout Association to attend at scouting camp at the Bar 75 ranch. He attended the First Canadian Boy Scout Jamboree in Ottawa with 7 other Scouts. At the early age of 16 he had to raise his own funds to travel by train to attend. Mal was an avid athlete involved in softball, hockey, basketball as well as junior and senior football. He was signed by the New York Yankees baseball farm team because of his lightning-fast precision pitching but made the tough decision to pass up this opportunity and focus on his young family.

In grade 12 Mal went to work as a ‘wiper’ on the CP railway. He moved from the round house as a ‘tenderfoot’ to a locomotive fireman on the Medicine Hat Saskatchewan run. He was as handy with a shovel as he was in sports, and many an engineer wanted him on their train. With the discovery of oil and the conversion to diesel fired locomotives, Mal had to move on and found a job in banking in 1953.

His Bank of Nova Scotia career started in Medicine Hat first as a junior clerk and then a bank teller. Following a series of increasing responsibilities and promotions, Mal was transferred to various locations in Alberta and Saskatchewan. In 1965, the family relocated to Edson, where Mal was the Bank Manager. Barely settled into Edson, he was transferred to Winnipeg as Senior Assistant Manager of the main branch. On an accelerated career path and the likelihood of having to move the family every 2 years, Mal decided to resign from the bank in 1969. In June 1970 Mal started with the Erith Tie Company as the Controller, but the job was much more than that. He could do almost any of the jobs required; equipment operator, certified planer operator, lumber grader and electrical trouble-shooter to name a few. A new expansion of the sawmill saw Erith Tie Company become Sundance Forest Industries. He remained with Sundance as Sales Manager for North American Lumber Sales until his retirement in 1997. 

Moving into Edson from Erith allowed Mal to become even more involved in the community. He was a Town Councillor for 12 years and worked on numerous committees including 22 years as Chairman of the Citizens Appeal Panel. Throughout the years he was a member of the Kinsmen, K40, 4H, United Church Harmony Singers and much more. 

In retirement Mal enjoyed travelling to different locations with Annie. They traveled North America, Europe and Australia. They became “Snow Birds” travelling to San Jacinto California every winter for 10 years. This not only supported his passion for golf but also his volunteer spirit. He enjoyed volunteering as a golf course marshal, community councillor and became the Tuesday Billiard King. Mal’s volunteering and community supportive spirit continued with the Pioneer Cabin. He enjoyed developing computer programs for their floor curling scores, schedules and membership tracking as well as skipping his curling team. His Excel programming skills could launch the space shuttle. His last week at home saw him entering the curling scores, updating memberships and creating schedules.

Mal is survived by his 5 children (spouses), 14 grandchildren, 11 great grandchildren and his brother.  He was predeceased by the love of his life, his parents and sister.

The family will be taking Mal home to Medicine Hat where his Internment will be held.

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