Duncan McCallum McColl

  General Information:

Duncan was John D. Harris' best friend until John's early death in 1939.

Although he is not really considered a family member (by biology) both he and his brother Bill (and their respective children) stayed well acquainted with the Harris/Dickinson families throughout their lives.

Duncan and Bill's half-sister was Isobel Winning Lindsay. She was to become the second wife of Frank George Harris and Step-Mother to John D. Harris, Grace Harris and Margaret Harris.

This writer remembers the one and only time he met Duncan at Hillsdale Manor in Oshawa. I had seen him in many photo's with my Grandfather, ever since I was a young child. When I found out that he was living about a 15 minute walk from where I lived; I went over as soon as I could. I was 16 years old and desperately wanted to discuss my Grandfather with him. Since John Harris died so young I couldn't really find anyone that had clear adult recollections of him. I visited Duncan totally unannounced, on a whim, in the early fall of 1982. When he was informed by a nurse that he had a visitor by the name of James Harris, his eyes got wider and a warm smile spread across his face as he squinted to see me more clearly, most likely thinking I was my Uncle Jim. My first name meant nothing....my surname definitely did.

We sat outside in the cool sun for about an hour and I listened intently to Duncan's recollections and heard about some of the adventures he shared with my Grandfather. He laughed a lot while he talked of his yesterdays..we parted with a firm handshake and many thank you's on both of our parts. Finding and visiting Duncan is one of my favourite memories and was my first step in chasing my roots.

Duncan died in Hillsdale Manor about 8 weeks after I saw him, I did plan on going back to see him with my Father, but this never happened much to our regret.

Duncan was cremated.

Duncan married Elizabeth Leonard. (Elizabeth Leonard died on 26 Apr 1978 in Oshawa General Hospital (now Lakeridge Health Centre), Oshawa, Ontario.)