William James (Bill) McAndrew: Historian. Author. Athlete. Traveller. Born Jan. 22, 1934, in Dalhousie, N.B.; died Dec. 19, 2024, in Ottawa, of complications from esophageal cancer; aged 90.
Bill McAndrewCourtesy of family
Bill described the highlights of his life as: being commissioned as an officer in the army at 18; gaining a doctorate in his mid-30s as a high-school dropout; and completing several marathons, including Boston, in the “over 40” category.
As an 18 year old, Bill joined the Queen’s Own Rifles regiment of the Canadian army. He had been a rather indifferent student, more interested in basketball and girls, and in the early 1950s, options were few in Prince Edward Island where the family lived. Plus, as Bill recalled, “adventure loomed.” He wasn’t disappointed. His 12-year military career took him to postings in Germany, Korea and Ghana.
In the early 1960s Bill was stationed in Kumasi, Ghana, to train troops for the newly independent country. With his Volkswagen Beetle, he travelled around West Africa, exploring cultures radically different from his upbringing in the Maritimes.
In 1964, while teaching summer courses at the Canadian Forces Base in Kingston, Bill met Carolyn Sparks, a beautiful, capable army nurse. Their romance quickly blossomed into marriage and soon after, their daughter Robin arrived while Bill, having resigned his commission as captain, was a mature student at Glendon College in Toronto. He described those days, with little money, in a basement apartment with Carolyn and baby Robin, as some of the happiest in his life. From there, a fellowship enabled the family to move to Vancouver where Bill began his PhD in history, at UBC, and where their son, Ian, was born.
In 1969, Bill was hired as an assistant professor at the University of Maine and later became director of the New England Atlantic Provinces Quebec Centre there. After six years, he joined the Directorate of History at National Defence HQ in Ottawa. It was a modest, almost invisible unit, housed in a department store annex. He wrote books and articles and conducted Second World War battlefield studies. It was serious and emotional work, but Bill’s acute sense of irony and wit often surfaced. As a federal employee during a public service strike, he opined with a wink and a grin: “We’ll bring the government to its knees! We’ll withhold our footnotes!”
Bill was self-effacing and a reluctant recipient of gifts or praise. He was well read, held strong opinions and all his life could draw on history to question arguments made by others. He hated pretension and arrogance and had an affinity for underdogs of all stripes. He loved Graham Greene’s novels for their moral complexities. As a handsome, nattily dressed young army officer in Germany, he bought an elegant Porsche, but for most of the rest of his life, preferred to shop at thrift stores.
He was skeptical of organized religions but embodied many of the best traits of several. He was also driven to clean the kitchen after meals. He may have been a little fast and loose with hand-washing quality control, and sometimes his washed dishes were secretly put in the dishwasher after he had gone to bed.
In retirement, Bill and Carolyn sold their house, stored a few belongings, and travelled, one backpack each, mainly in Europe, for three years. They hopped on the first train leaving the station, wherever it was going and got off whenever the whim struck. The kindness of strangers met along the way moved Bill, sometimes to tears, and so he always made a point of carrying it forward, offering help to others when he saw the need.
In his late 80s, he was still travelling – making many return visits to Portugal, hiking and riding his bike in Ottawa to get groceries; his brain and memory as sharp as ever, even with the surprise cancer diagnosis. His choice of MAID was, in his eyes, practical. He was almost sanguine about it, perhaps feeling that again, adventure loomed.
Carolyn McAndrew is Bill’s wife; Robin McAndrew is his daughter; Heather MacAndrew and Anne Gunn are his sisters.
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