SHIRLEY MCKEVITT

THUNDER BAY — One of Canada’s trucking pioneers has passed away. Shirley Catherine McKevitt, 79, died Thursday, Nov. 14. She had Parkinson’s Disease.

A well-respected and diligent trucking professional who also happened to be a registered nurse, McKevitt is survived by her husband of 56 years, John, her son John Jr. (Lorrie) and her grandson Michael. She was predeceased by children Maureen and James.

Born in Kirkland Lake, ON., McKevitt lived in Nobel and Kenora before moving to Fort William (now Thunder Bay), where she met and married John.

Before joining him on the executive at the trucking company in 1960, McKevitt earned her RN at Port Arthur General Hospital in 1956. She taught nursing there until assuming the role of secretary treasurer at McKevitt’s, the company that her husband founded in 1948 with a two-ton Chev truck.

When Shirley joined, McKevitt’s was run out of the family basement. Now the company operates about 275 power units, with facilities in Mississauga, Sudbury and Sault Ste Marie and is number 71 on Today’s Trucking’s Top 100 For-Hire Fleets.

In addition to helping grow the fleet, McKevitt’s list of public-service accomplishments was lengthy indeed: She was a former President and board member of the local Cystic Fibrosis Chapter in Thunder Bay, a Director for the National Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, a Director of the CFIB, a board member and chairperson of St. Joseph’s Hospital as well as serving on the board of Ventures.

Donations in her name to the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation or the Parkinson Society would be greatly appreciated.