Community activist.
Born at Silverton on 8 December 1928, daughter of farmers Bessie Ada May MacLean (1900-1983) and Earle Anderson Keating (1896-1972), she attended Silver Creek School and Russell High School, graduating in 1946 as Valedictorian of her class. In 1949, she received a BA degree in Sociology from United College. She worked as Director of Youth Work with the Manitoba Federation of Agriculture and Co-operation (MFAC), forerunner to Camp Wannakumbac.
On 12 September 1952, she married D. Mac McNabb (c1925-2005) and they lived initially at Strathclair where they had four children. In 1965, they purchased a farm near Basswood and she remained there until her death.
Active in the community, she was President of the Manitoba Women’s Institutes (1982-1984). She served on the board of the Federated Women’s Institutes of Canada, chaired a national rural child care survey, and served on the Canadian planning committee for a triennial conference of the Associated Country Women of the World. For several years in the 1980s, she was Chair of the Manitoba Farm Land Ownership Board and Vice-Chair of the Manitoba Mediation Board. In the early 1990s, she was a member of the Minnedosa Hospital and Personal Care Home board, and later, represented it on the Marquette Regional Health Authority. She was an active participant in the creation of Minnedosa’s Palliative Care Program. She sang in choirs at Strathclair United Church, Basswood United Church, and Minnedosa United Church, was involved with the Strathclair Theatre Chorus and Drama Club, and spent many years working with the Rolling River Festival of the Arts. In 1989, she received a YWCA Women of Distinction Award in Agriculture.
She died on 16 March 2026 and was buried in the Cadurcis Cemetery.
Marriage registration [Bessie Ada May Maclean, Earle Anderson Keating], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Obituary [D. Mac McNabb], Winnipeg Free Press, 30 April 2005.
Obituary, White's Funeral Home.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
We thank Kevin Rollason for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 12 April 2026
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