Obituary of Robert Hall MacFarland

MACFARLAND, Robert Hall "Bob" - Age 91, of Halifax passed away peacefully on August 12, 2024, at Melville Lodge with his beloved wife Honey at his side.  Bob was born April 21, 1933, in Cheticamp, Cape Breton, the son of the late Joseph and Inez McFarland. 

Bob left Cheticamp at the age of 13 to attend Kings College School (now King’s Edgehill School) in Windsor, NS from where he graduated in 1950. During his time at King’s Bob excelled in Athletics, playing Rugby, Hockey, Basketball, and Track & Field, and was a Prefect and Lieutenant in the Cadet Corps. In his final year, he was named Best Athlete and was the recipient of the Birks Medal for Leadership & Integrity. Bob enjoyed many class reunions over the years and returned to King’s-Edgehill School as a Board Member from 1987-2010.

In the early years of his career, Bob worked in the construction industry for Jones Construction in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Quebec, and Ontario. He met Honey Ward in Halifax in 1953, and they married in Sackville, NB in October 1957. They had 5 children; Bobby and twins Heather and Diana were born in Halifax, followed by Carol and Curt in Ottawa.

Bob & Honey returned to live in Halifax in 1963 where Bob’s work in the construction industry led him to open MacFarland’s Rentit which he operated for 30 years before retiring in 1993. Bob fully immersed himself in his rental business and in the Atlantic, Canadian, and American Rental Associations. Bob & Honey traveled to many rental conventions in both Canada and the U.S. and made lifelong friends across both countries. Many of them visited Nova Scotia and Bob happily toured them around Halifax and the province and the visits always included Bob cooking lobsters for everyone. Bob served in many Council and Executive positions in the Rental Associations and served as President of the American Rental Association in 1989. He was honored to receive several service awards throughout his rental career and was proud to be inducted into The American Rental Hall of Fame in 2004.

Before and after his retirement Bob was an active volunteer in his community. Over the years he volunteered for the Bill Lynch Fund, Prescott St. Workshop (now Prescott Group), Nova Scotia Special Olympics, Habitat for Humanity, and Halifax Airport Tartan Team.

Although Bob left Cheticamp at a young age, he had a lifelong love of all things Cape Breton – in particular Cheticamp, Margaree, Baddeck, Cape North & Dingwall where he maintained childhood family friendships and made new friends over the many years of visiting Cape Breton. Bob & Honey made several trips “home” to Cape Breton every year until his health started to decline in 2021. His last trip to Cape Breton was in October 2020 where he was able to stay in Cheticamp in his childhood home (now Silver Linings Inn).

Bob cultivated and maintained friendships throughout his life – from Cheticamp, from King’s College School, from his neighborhood, through business and volunteer work. He enjoyed staying in touch with friends by phone, email, and especially in person. Bob & Honey had a great group of friends in Halifax (their “dinner group”) who regularly got together for meals and travel – what fun they had!

Bob loved working on a project whether it was helping plan a reunion for Kings-Edgehill or a Nursing reunion for Honey and her classmates. He organized and donated his family’s collection of hooked mats and rugs to Les Trois Pignons Cultural Center in Cheticamp several years ago. Bob was the family historian and did a lot of research for our MacFarland family history, which was completed for him by his daughter-in-law Twyla, and shared with the rest of the family. His most recent project was compiling a pictorial history of gypsum mining in Cheticamp and Dingwall in the 1930s and 40s. He was immensely proud of his father who was the Vice President and General Manager of National Gypsum Company Limited, Cheticamp, and Dingwall during that time.

Bob’s greatest love was his wife Honey, followed by his children and extended family, his friends, Cape Breton, good food, good wine, good Scotch, rugby, football (especially the New England Patriots), music, and travel – he had a wonderful life full of all these things.

 He is survived by his wife Honey; children, Heather (Steve) MacFarland, Diana (Scott) Ferguson, Carol (Brent) Blackie, and Curt (Twyla) MacFarland; grandchildren, Kathryn Dougherty, Michael Dougherty, Adam (Karoline) Ferguson, Eric (Alessandra) Ferguson, Curtis (Hillary) Ferguson, Sarah Jane (Sean) Langille, Andrea (Mark) Blackie, Rachel (Couragyn) Blackie; great-grandchild, Cecilia Honey Chretien; along with many nieces and nephews. Bob was predeceased by his son, Bobby in childhood; sisters, Lucille (Norm) MacDonald and Jean (Tom) Trainor.

Arrangements and cremation have been entrusted to J. Albert Walker Funeral Home, Halifax. At Bob’s request, there will be no funeral or memorial service. In lieu of flowers, in memory of Bob, please consider a donation to Special Olympics Nova Scotia.

Bob’s family would like to thank the staff of Melville Lodge for their care and attention to Bob during these past few months.