Jacqueline Donalda MacDonald

Jacqueline (Jackie) MacDonald was born in Toronto on October 12, 1932, and died on June 25, 2026. After a long illness, Jackie sought Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID), taking control of her life and departing at the time of her choosing.

Predeceased by her father Donald Norman MacDonald, mother Margaret May (Edwards) MacDonald, and her elder son Steven Charles Gelling.  Jackie is survived by her beloved husband of 68 years, William (Bill) Charles Gelling, her dear son Andrew (Andy) Neil Gelling, and her many friends.

An early discovery that influenced Jackie’s life was the library – it was the beginning of a lifetime love of libraries, librarians, and reading.

As well, Jackie always loved physical activity: she learned to swim at five and started taking acrobatic and ballet classes at ten. However, the 1940s and 1950s were a poor era for athletic girls and women in sports. In high school, girls had very few opportunities and games such as basketball were a watered-down version of the real game. Fortunately, there were more possibilities in the community. At fifteen she joined a swimming and diving club and at sixteen won the Ontario Junior Diving championship. At seventeen, playing basketball in the Toronto Women’s Basketball League, she set a record of 38 points for one game.

At 19 Jackie bought a second-hand Harley Davison after enjoying a ride 3 years earlier. As the only woman in the city to ride a motorcycle, she had many interesting encounters with curious policemen.

When she started putting the shot and throwing the discus in 1953, Jackie found it difficult to find a place to train with weights. At a local gym she was told, “Ladies don’t do that!” but that only made her more determined.  She qualified for the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games team and won a silver medal in the shot put, setting a new Canadian record. Being in the beautiful city of Vancouver, meeting other athletes from many countries, and learning more about the world was an added bonus.

In March 1955 the PanAmerican Games were held in Mexico City. There was no shot put for women. For Jackie, trying to practice throwing the discus in the Toronto winter in a snowy public park or a dark schoolyard, was futile. What a contrast to arrive in the sun and warmth of Mexico, the site of the Games, and the brand-new campus of the National Autonomous University of Mexico! The entirety of it encompassed the history and culture of Mexico with the strange, slanted walls of the stadium, which mimicked the shape of the volcanoes near the city, and the wonderful art on the walls of the main buildings created by the best of Mexico’s mural artists. The impression was so powerful that she returned to Mexico many times, especially after studying Spanish. She came in fifth in the discus. However, she caused a sensation when she went to do a weight training session. A newspaper article appeared, entitled Una Dama Que Levanta Pesa (A Lady Who Lifts Weights), with a photo of her pressing a barbell. At the end of 1955 she ranked first in the shot put, and third in the discus in the Western Hemisphere.

The Olympic Games were the largest amateur event in the world in 1956. Jackie placed tenth in the shot put. Competing against athletes from the Soviet Union and other Eastern European athletes, who had serious training programs to develop athletes, was difficult. She hadn’t been able to secure a coach since 1954 and had to practice alone for the two events, in public parks without circles. Two exciting things that happened to Jackie in Melbourne were sitting at the table with Prince Phillip at a banquet, and having a poem dedicated to her.

In 1957, she took a leave of absence from teaching Grade 5 in Toronto, to travel to England and the European continent. In Paris, the most memorable occasion for her was seeing her first opera, Rigoletto, at l’Opéra de Paris. In Italy, the highlight was Florence, the birthplace of the Renaissance with its paintings, sculptures, and architecture. Hitchhiking in Italy she started understanding Italian from root words. This was a revelation to her; a different way of learning a language.

While in Switzerland, Jackie received an invitation to compete in The World Youth Games in Moscow. The participants came mostly from the USSR and other Eastern European countries. She was the only Canadian and placed sixth in the shot put. The sports facilities were excellent, and the Moscow subway was as impressive as she had heard. Standing in Red Square, with the Kremlin, and St. Basil’s Cathedral close by, was thrilling.

On February 5, 1958, Jackie married Bill Gelling, a 4th year Aeronautical Engineering student at the University of Toronto. After graduation, Bill was posted to Ottawa by the Air Force. Still in Toronto, she finished teaching her school year, and after the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff where she won a bronze in shot put, she joined Bill in Ottawa. Both their sons were born there, Steve in 1959 and Andy in 1961.

For a number of years, they received very short postings in other locations, and several back in Ottawa. The family spent Canada’s Centennial in England, soon returning to Ottawa where they stayed for eleven and a half years. The next move was to Winnipeg for three years, followed by Ottawa for four years, then five years in Montreal, before returning to Ottawa for good.

When her sons joined a competitive swimming club, Jackie joined a Masters’ swimming group. She later joined the Ottawa Bicycle Club (OBC). In the 1985 World Masters Championship, she won one gold and two silver medals, riding in the 50 to 54 age group. In her eightieth year, she rode in the 80+ OBC Women’s Time Trials, the first woman to ride in this category. She also played two years of water polo and took up rowing at sixty-one and rowed for three years. She rode her bike until age eighty-seven.

During her athletic career, Jackie kept a series of scrapbooks. She donated them to the Archives of the Province of Ontario in 2012. In 2015, when the PanAmerican Games were held in Toronto, the Archives used a selection of articles from the scrapbooks for its principal exhibit.

Academically, in spite of frequent moves, Jackie completed a B.A. from Carleton University, a B.Ed. from the University of Ottawa and an M.A. in linguistics from l’Université de Montréal; she was 61 when she received her M.A. diploma.

Professionally, she taught elementary school, and English as a Second Language to Immigrants and senior high school students. She also coached swimming and taught quilting classes in the evenings.

A few of Jackie’s volunteer activities included: instructing for a handicapped swimming program, helping Spanish immigrants in Montreal by translating documents between Spanish and French for L’Entreaide Multiculturelle St. Louis, driver for Meals on Wheels, Animal Care Committee of the NRC as a community member, welcoming foreign students for International House, Citizen Advocacy, President of TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language), teaching English to Syrian refugees, and she developed and produced a series of sixteen half-hour programs on swimming and other aquatic activities in Ottawa, for a local TV station.

In 2023, she published Ladies Don’t Do That!: Memoir of an Olympian (Friesen Press).

There will be a Celebration of Life at the Beechwood Cemetery on Thursday, July16 2026, from 1:30-4 pm. In lieu of flowers, please contribute to the charity of your choice, in Jackie’s name.