Colin Bain MacDonald, or Buff, as his family knew him, was born on a cold prairie morning. He always said first impressions were important, and as a breech birth, he definitely made an impression on his mother.
Buff was the fourth child of Alec and Anne MacDonald's family of six sons and two daughters. His mother was a teacher and his father was a surveyor.
Growing up in the 1920s and 1930s in Canada's west was tough, but Buff said they never went hungry. As the MacDonald boys grew older, they each left home in search of jobs and adventure. In 1938, Buff set out to ride the rails across Canada in search of work. Landing in Toronto, he decided to join the military for "three squares a day" and a warm bed. He joined the Royal Canadian Dragoons horse guard. The start of the Second World War found him headed to Europe as a member of the First Hussars.
As a tank commander, Buff fought from Juno Beach through Holland and into Germany. He never told stories about the terrible things he endured or the friends he lost. Mainly he told party stories of liberating stashes of fine cognac, organizing children's parties in Holland and helping families in need.
With the war finished, Buff was relieved, he said, "to stop playing soldier." He returned to civilian life in Toronto, where he met Edith Tipping. They were married in 1948 and had two children, Brad and Kim.
Buff was a man of many talents. He started his own road construction company and worked on many postwar projects around Ontario. Later he worked for other large construction firms.
His philosophy of life was demonstrated in his many sayings. He often said that his needs were few and life was how you found it. Problems we had were "a small thing in a big world." He put a positive spin on just about anything.
Buff had many loves. He loved kids, his own and especially his four grandchildren. He loved animals and the great outdoors, swimming, water skiing and skating. His lifelong passion was baseball. As a young man he played as a pitcher, and in retirement he never missed a game of his beloved Blue Jays. He loved parties and large family dinners and holding outdoor picnics in the winter. And he loved to tell his family how much he loved them.
Buff was raised with the knowledge that self-reliance and hard work were necessary to survival. He knew how to build a dry well, could ride and groom a horse and could cut down a tree so it would fall exactly where he wanted it to land. Buff said that chopping firewood warmed you twice, once when you were splitting it, and again in the fireplace. He was a philosopher of sorts and a wise one at that.
Kim and Brad MacDonald are Buff's daughter and son.