James Alexander Stirling Macdonald

James Alexander Stirling Macdonald December 7, 1921 - November 29, 2013. Suddenly, on the morning of November 29th, in his home on Galiano Island, while getting ready for another great day and planning his "Le Dernier Cri" art exhibition. James' death occurred just short of his 92nd birthday, and no one was more surprised and delighted than he that he had lasted that long. A graduate of the Vancouver School of Art, his career path took him from high school teacher through Normal School instructor and on to a professorship in the Art Department of the Faculty of Education at UBC. He was a veteran of WW II, serving as a Navigator as part of Bomber Command. Shot down over France in 1944, he wandered the countryside, hiding in barns and haystacks until the French underground helped smuggle him across the border to a Swiss internment camp. Survived by his wife Zona, his children Bonnie, Brenda, and Lia, and his grandchildren Sylvia, Gwendolyn, Tess, Lachlan, and Maggie. Artist, educator, jazz lover, keen observer of the natural world, and superb wine maker. It will not be the same without him.