On Jan. 23, Cochrane lost Christina MacKay, a woman who had a true passion for people, this town, and of course, amazing ice cream.
“If you knew my mom, you would know that she was the friendliest person ever. She just loved people and she fostered that welcoming and kept it up for every new person that moved to Cochrane or every person that came in the store,” said daughter Robyn MacKay.
Christina, affectionately known as Chrissie, was born in Wishaw, Scotland and was ‘swept of her feet’ by Canadian soldier James MacKay. She moved to Cochrane at the age of 21 and eventually established MacKay’s Cochrane Ice Cream with her husband in the 1940s.
Having the name ‘Cochrane’ in their business was something that was very important to the MacKays because of the family’s love for the town. Robyn said her mother even thought that the Men of Vision statue should be holding an ice cream cone.
“She loved Cochrane from the minute she stepped foot here and she has always said that. She never said ‘I’m from Scotland’ it was ‘I’m from Cochrane’,” said Robyn.
But Christina always had ‘global thinking’, said Robyn. She said she would never forget working with her mom in the store and how she would take the time to talk to each customer about who they were and where they were from.
“She wanted to put the map up in the store and she would take people over and put their pin in. It was like bringing the world together for mom in a tiny town and that’s what I will really cherish,” said Robyn.
Robyn said her mom and dad not only made the ice cream, but also worked at the front of the store seven days a week and met every customer. She joked that her mother’s right wrist was bigger than her left from scooping ice cream — there was ‘no doubt about it.’
“She left that legacy of love and that is why the business grew, is because of the personal touch. They never spent any money on advertising it was all word of mouth,” said Robyn. “She was vibrant. Her social skills were extraordinary. She could talk to anyone about anything.”
And those skills came in handy one day with the RCMP in town, as Robyn recalled.
There was a huge lineup of people down the street waiting to get a scoop of the famous ice cream and it had began to block traffic. An RCMP officer came in and asked Christina to step outside.
“He said to her, ‘Mrs. MacKay, the lineup is blocking the street and I can’t get them to move. Can you?’” said Robyn.
Christina, who Robyn said weighed only around 90 pounds, went out and got the huge line to get back on the sidewalk for the officer.
“I think he was grateful to have the ‘ice cream queen’ help him out,” said Robyn.
Even after Christina’s retirement, MacKay’s Ice Cream has still remained in the family with Robyn and sister Rhona running the business starting in 1983 and in 2011 Christina’s granddaughter Meghan and husband Mark Tayfel continued the tradition.
But even after Christina’s retirement days, Robyn said she would still come down to the store and sit outside and talk with people.
“If the taxi brought her down or she met someone outside, she would come in and scoop their ice cream. She would walk in the exit door and say ‘the taxi driver loves maple walnut.’ She didn’t think people were complete unless they had an ice cream cone in their hand,” said Robyn.
A celebration of Christina’s life will be held at Cochrane Alliance Church Jan. 31 at 2 p.m.
