Ted McLean traveled home to Sarnia to help rededicate the site of a centennial cairn on the lawn at city hall in his late mother’s honor.
Patricia McLean, who died in 2019, was a founding member of the Sarnia Heritage Committee and a champion of the city’s history.
“It’s really touching,” McLean said following a July 19 ceremony where he joined Mayor Mike Bradley unveiling a plaque honoring his mother.
“She’d be ecstatic,” McLean said. “She wouldn’t say much – just have a nice smile.”
The cairn near the corner of Front and George streets, overlooking the St. Clair River, is a replica built in 2004 of an original that marked the 1936 centennial of the decision to rename what had been known as The Rapids as Port Sarnia.
The original cairn was lost in the 1950s when the city’s former library came down in what’s now Veterans Park.
When the replica was built, McLean stepped up with $5,300 so it would have a custom-built replica of a thermometer on the original.
McLean was born and raised in Sarnia.
“Her parents and her sister would always talk about the city – where my grandfather worked during the war, where the buildings were,” McLean said. “I think it was sort in the blood line.”
As well as the city hall cairn, she had been involved in restoring the city’s Boer War Memorial and the monument in Lakeview Cemetery to Alexander Mackenzie, Canada’s second prime minister.
Ahead of the rededication, the city installed benches and landscaping next to the cairn.
“She became my mentor in the history and heritage of Sarnia,” and was “an avid volunteer on multiple committees,” said city planner Max Williams.
“This cairn stands as a testament to her efforts.”
“She really was a one-woman tornado keeping our history alive,” Bradley said.
He said the cairn is, “the perfect memory to have of Pat who loved the waterfront, loved this community.”
Bradley named McLean to his annual honor list in 2014.
Robert Dickieson, chairperson of the heritage committee, called McLean, “a true champion of our city and a tireless volunteer.”