Clifton Anthony ‘Cliff’ LeBlanc

Funeral service for the late Clifton Anthony ‘Cliff’ LeBlanc, 97, was held March 25 in St. Anne’s Church, Alder Point, Cape Breton, with Father Peter McLeod officiating. Burial will be in St. Joseph’s Cemetery, Bras d’Or, at a later date. Mr. LeBlanc died March 17, 2019, in the Veteran’s Unit in St. Martha’s Regional Hospital, Antigonish. Readers at the funeral Mass were Bernadette Theriault and Terry Burton. Margaret and Shane LeBlanc presented the offertory gifts. Eucharistic minister was Philip Theriault. Pallbearers were Philip and Freeman Theriault, Gordon and Cyprian LeBlanc and Joe and John Delorey. Born April 1, 1921, in Alder Point, Cape Breton, he was the seventh child of the late Pascal and Margaret (McGrath) LeBlanc. He left school at an early age to work in his father’s coal mines and later started a coal delivery business and a small grocery store, which he sold after the war. He worked on the SS Acadia, a former hydrographic surveying and oceanographic research ship in Newfoundland and was the last known crew member from before the war. He enlisted in the army during the Second World War and went overseas until the war ended. He and his cousin Roger LeBlanc moved to Welland, Ontario, where he worked in a steel plant for six years. He then toured the United States and Florida with friends before returning home to Alder Point. He drove a taxi for a year and a half as well as fished lobster and swordfish with George Forest. In 1955, he moved to Toronto where he met Margaret Delorey of Merland, and married on July 18, 1959. He started a home remodelling business in Toronto, then moved back to Nova Scotia in 1966. While living in Afton, he did carpentry work on Tracadie School, the Heavy Water Plant and Gulf Oil refinery in Port Hawkesbury. Later, he worked in Christmas tree yards, supervised clearing of blueberry fields, also taught upholstery and organic gardening for continuing education classes. He was retired for 37 years. His favourite hobby was gardening. He also enjoyed skating, roller skating and bowling, as well as going to Country Diamonds dances and playing auction. He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Margaret; daughter, Sharon (John) Stegeman, Cranbrook, British Columbia; son, Shane, at home; three grandchildren, Natasha (Ryan) Lewis, Fredericton, New Brunswick; Michael (Kaitlyn) Tattersall, Smither’s, B.C.; Lisa Tattersall, Kelowna, B.C.; three great-grandsons, Jaedan and William Lewis, Fredericton, N.B.; Rueben Tattersall, Kelowna, B.C.; brother, Chester (Muriel) LeBlanc, Lower River Inhabitants, CB; many nieces, nephews and cousins; three sisters-in-law; six brothers-in-law. He was predeceased by parents-in-law, James and Mary Delorey; 11 siblings, Mary (John) Carfotes, Evelyn (Wilbert) Theriault, Bernard, killed in Italy in 1944; Strickland (Maydelle); Frances (Nat) Barrie, Mildred (Joseph) Dooley, Lawrence, Marguerite (Adrian) Barrie; Clifton, Theresa and June, in infancy. Memorial donations may be made to St. Martha’s Hospital, the VON Antigonish, St. Anne’s Church, Alder Point or St. Joseph’s Cemetery, Bras d’Or. Online condolences: www.MacIsaacs.ca