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This article first appeared in the "Valley Lives" column in the August 7, 2024 issue of the The Low Down to Hull and Back News.
Reprinted with permission. Search complete list of Low Down Articles.
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Doug Nesbitt
‘They don't make them like that anymore'
Friends and family remember lifelong Rupert community man
By Madeline Kerr
If you stand on the lawn of the Nesbitt family farmhouse on McCrank Road in Rupert and take a look over the rolling green hills, lush woods, blowing wildflowers and endless sky, it's easy to understand why Doug Nesbitt would choose to spend every one of his 95 years there.
Doug died on June 6, surrounded by family. Earlier this summer, some of his family members and closest friends gathered in the wide, breezy kitchen of his home - a red brick farmhouse that's been in the Nesbitt family since it was built in 1902 - to reminisce about a life well lived and a man well loved.
"I was bailing hay recently and thinking about Doug all day," his friend and neighbour André Farralton said. "He had an incredible memory right up to the end. Losing someone like that…all his knowledge and wisdom goes with him. Doug was a walking, living, breathing almanac."
"He was the go-to guy if you had any trouble," Doug's longtime friend and hunting buddy Ron Kingsbury confirmed. "If I was away from home, my wife would call Doug for help before she'd call me," he laughed.
Born in Rupert in 1929, Doug grew up on the famil farm he took over in 1952 when he married his beloved wife Irma (McGarry). Doug and Irma called the farmstead home, until Irma, also a pillar of her community, died in 2019. Together, they had two children, Faye and Mark, four grandchildren, and now three great-grandchildren.
Doug was a farmer all his life, mainly raising beef cows, although he "dabbled in chickens and pigs," his son Mark explained.
He was also a skilled woodworker - he took an intensive woodworking course in his 70s - and made highly creative furniture, which he would sell, give away or furnish his own house with. He could butcher his own beef, had a knack for locating water sources, kept a productive garden, made 100 litres of maple syrup every spring, and was an accomplished hunter, angler and all-around handyman.
"If he'd had any schooling, he could have done just about anything," his daughter Faye Nesbitt said.
Faye explained that her father knew almost everyone in the vicinity. Functionally bilingual, he befriended francophone and anglophone neighbours alike. He made a point of getting to know new neighbours, who were often told by locals, "You gotta go meet Doug." He enjoyed sitting on his verandah and receiving visitors, which he did up until his final days.
"He had a sense of duty to his community, and he instilled that in others. He gave us a strong work ethic and made sure that Mark and I knew we needed to give back to our community," Faye said.
The list of his community engagements certainly confirms this: Doug was one of the founders of the Rupert Fair in 1962; he also helped found the Rupert Youth Welfare Association and the Gatineau Valley Horse and Cattle Association; he coached baseball; volunteered with the Gatineau Valley Historical Society, the local cemetery board and the 4H Club; was an active member of the Men's Club of Wakefield; and he also sat as a councillor for North Masham before amalgamation.
"He was a valuable contributor, but he wasn't looking for any attention for himself," Doug's friend Farralton said.
"He was a quiet man," Faye agreed. "And a good listener," Mark added.
His friends and family also described him as a hard worker, entrepreneurial, practical but creative; tough but also sensitive; strong-willed, self-sufficient, never condescending, family-oriented, patient, knowledgeable and kind.
"He didn't have hate for anything in this world but beavers," Mark said, to which everyone else in the kitchen laughed knowingly.
"A lot of people as they get older might say, ‘I'm too old for this,' but that didn't apply to Doug," Farralton explained.
"He was a pretty progressive guy; he certainly wasn't antichange…. He could even use a GPS to get around," Faye said. "But he was more comfortable with a compass and map," Kingsbury added.
And, although he owned a cell phone, his loved ones don't think he ever used it to Google anything because, in their words, "he was Google," referring to his almanac-like mind.
His friends and family said the key to Doug's longevity was good genes - he had multiple family members who lived well into their 90s - and the same farmer's breakfast he ate for 95 years: bacon and eggs. Plus, he had a penchant for gin-soaked raisins and swore by eating 10 of them every morning.
"He had a foot in both worlds: He grew up with horse and buggy and no electricity, and he lived to see modern communication and ways of traveling," Farralton said. "I know it's cliché to say this, maybe, but it's true: they just don't make them like that anymore."
Seated around the family kitchen on chairs that Doug himself had built by hand, his loved ones all agreed.