Wednesday, July 31, 2024

Longtime Point St Charles resident George McRae passed away

George was always a good guy to deal with, sending me a pair of 3d glasses (20 years ago I guess) so I could view the 3d photos he used to post on his website. George along with a friend of his started the Point website just before this Verdun Connections site came into being. I spoke with him many times over the years and he was dedicated to preserving his community The Point. He also supported Verdun a little as well. He posted fantastic photos and stories about basically growing up in the Point. He did pass back in May of this year,but I thought it would be appropriate to allow some time for his family and friends to mourn his passing. I feel it is just the right thing to do,to honour his memory here on this blogsite (originally an MSN Groups site) George Thanks for being a decent guy and sharing history with us along the way. Many of us that hail from Verdun and now live all around the globe, also had roots or grew up in and around Griffintown, the Point, Goose Village even. Verdun became home for a lot of us but let's face it Montreal is home to all of us,and the Point was a big part of that. Below is George's obit as seen in the Montreal Gazette back in May.
Passed away peacefully on May 20, 2024 at the age of 87. Predeceased by his beloved parents, brothers and sisters, he is survived by his loving nieces and nephews who will miss him dearly. George will be remembered for his incredible kindness, generosity, enthusiasm, and his amazing sense of humour. With his impeccable memory and penchant for detail, he was a master story teller. A life-long resident of Point St Charles, George's passionate interest in technology and photography resulted in the co-creation of thepoint.ca, one of the first community-based websites on the early internet. Gregarious and charming, he was a friend to everyone he met and as an uncle, he was unmatched. A true gentleman with the biggest heart. Special thanks to the staff of the Verdun General Hospital for their compassion and support.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i remember years ago finding a point saint charles website.many old pictures of streets around the point. i forgot all about that. thanks for the reminder did mt mrcrae still have that site
the internet was almost all about groups from different cities sharing memories, wow the internet sure has changed. it always felt good to come across groups with same ideas or finding classmates from years ago. i suppose everything has to end to make way for all the younger people to share their ideas with each other.it is funny to see how young people think they invented the internet with the new things like facebook or instagram and they can all thank people like mr mcrae for starting these gathering places many years ago.i actually found out about mr mcraes death searching for point saint charles photos and came across this notice for him on a verdun site.thank you.

Les_F said...

Thank You Annonymous, for surfing by Verdun Connections, glad you found something of interest.
Yes George McRae's Point site is still open or online. However I don't know if it will be active like before .It seems it has stayed on the same Front Page for a while. I am sure if it does continue to carry on it will be a learning curve for whoever takes it over. Perhaps George wanted it to just exist now in cyber space. I wish them well and they can rest assured that "Thje Point " site will live on in all of us who had the pleasure of interacting with George. As long as the site is still there I would Highly Recommend everyone to check it out and peruse all the photos that may still be on there.
Again thanks for surfing by.
Cheers Les F