Norman Whitman MacLeod

MacLEOD, Norman “Nipper” – Dartmouth Retired Capt. Norman “Nipper” MacLeod, who served his country proudly during a 32-year career in the military, and who loved his wife and family for a lifetime, died peacefully at home on Feb. 1, 2023. He was 92. Born and raised in New Glasgow, N.S., Nipper grew up on Warren Street, the youngest of eight children of Leslie and Florence MacLeod. He regaled his two sons for years with tales of a Tom Sawyer-like childhood on the town’s west side. Most of it was true but they suspect some of it was embellished solely for their entertainment. Norman is survived by his wife of 72 years, Pauline (Kitty), sons Grant (Debby) of Dartmouth, N.S., and Steve (Maggie Marwah) of Halifax. He was predeceased by an infant daughter, Susan, and all his siblings. He was immensely proud of his four grandchildren: Joel (Victoria Pilon) of Vancouver, Whitney Briggs (Mackenzie) of Florida, Ben and Jesse of Halifax, and two great-grandchildren, Nova and Sloane, also of Florida. Norman joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1948 and rose through the ranks from an aircraft electrician for squadrons in France and Canada to an officer who ended his career in the late 1970s as a military attaché to the Canadian High Commission in London, England. He served a three-year NATO deployment with a Canadian squadron of CF-100 Canuck jet fighters in eastern France during the height of the Cold War in the 1950s. He returned to Canada in 1959 with his wife and young family to serve on bases in Trenton, Ont., Edmonton, Ottawa, and Moncton, N.B. While posted in Trenton, from 1959 to 1965, he worked on all manner of aircraft, including the famed Golden Hawks aerobatics team that featured distinctive gold-coloured Sabre jets. He was commissioned as an officer in 1967 and went on to oversee the ground crew of a jet fighter squadron in Ottawa. While posted in London, he aided in the purchase for Canada of Leopard tanks from West Germany and Blowpipe surface-to-air missiles from the United Kingdom. In 1978, he was recognized for rescuing a woman who had fallen onto the tracks of the London Underground as a train was about to depart. One of his proudest possessions was a framed coat of arms he designed for the military detachment in London that was approved and signed by the Queen. He retired in 1980 and spent most of his remaining years golfing avidly with Kitty and moving too many times to count, as if still on a regular transfer schedule with the military. One of his sons used to joke that every moving company in the Maritimes had Norm’s number on speed dial. Nipper became an ardent follower of the Toronto Maple Leafs after hearing a Foster Hewitt radio broadcast when he was five years old. He later became a fan of the Montreal Expos and Toronto Blue Jays and had an uncanny ability to watch multiple games at once while listening to another game on the radio and reading a book. He was a past member of the community choir of Summerside, P.E.I., and the Notable Friends Choir of New Glasgow. He was also a past member of golf courses in Ottawa, Trenton, Summerside, Bridgetown, N.S., and Abercrombie, N.S. He was a true friend who kept in touch with his old pals for years and who revelled in reunions and nostalgia. Interment of his ashes will be at a later date in Summerside, where he met his future wife while serving at the town’s air base. There are no immediate plans for a service. Donations in his memory can be made to the IWK Health Centre in Halifax, Summerside Presbyterian Church, or charity of choice. www.harboursidecremation.ca

Norman Whitman MacLeod

August 21, 1930 - February 1, 2023