(1947-2024)
Sheena Fraser McGoogan, beloved wife of author Ken McGoogan, passed away on August 4th, 2024, at Grand River Hospital in Kitchener, Ontario.
Sheena was born on February 7, 1947, in Montreal to Frederick and Meada Fraser. With her four siblings -- Beth, Mairi, Ross, and Ian -- she grew up west of the city in Hudson, Quebec.
Strongly influenced by her maternal grandfather, Albert Pattison, an accomplished artist and illustrator, she trained as an artist and art teacher at MacDonald College/ McGill University and University of British Columbia. She later mounted one-woman shows in Toronto.
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In 1968, while visiting a pub in Deux Montagnes with teacher-friends, she met Ken. With him, Sheena spent one summer working as a fire lookout in the Canadian Rockies. Over the decades, the two rambled from Scotland, Ireland, and France to Tasmania and the Blue Mountains of Australia; from Canada’s High Arctic (with Adventure Canada) to Singapore, Malaysia, and the Perhentian Islands; and from to India and Sri Lanka to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where she taught elementary school.
Sheena especially loved exploring Scotland, rambling the Highlands, the Outer Hebrides, Orkney, and St. Kilda, and tracing her fighting-Fraser ancestors through the Battle of Culloden.
For twenty years, while as a mother she raised her two children, Sheena worked as a teacher in Calgary, Alberta. In Canada, always while painting, she also lived in Montreal, Vancouver, Nelson, Fredericton, Toronto, and Guelph.
Sheena is survived by her husband Ken, her son Carlin, daughter-in-law Sylwia, daughter Keriann, son-in-law Travis, grandson James, and granddaughter Veronica.
To honour Sheena’s memory, donations may be made to the Canadian Cancer Society. For a more complete obituary, go here. https://kenmcgoogan.com/2024/08/06/celebrating-sheena-fraser-mcgoogan/