101-year-old Mary McEachern holds a photo of her and her husband Steve in her apartment in Edmonton, on Nov 19.Kelsey McMillan/The Globe and Mail
Mary McEachern is wearing a bright fuchsia blazer, black slacks and a dab of Sisley-Paris Rose Mexico lipstick. Her blue eyes are clear, but she can’t see much. Her mind is sharp, but her hearing is shot. She sits at her kitchen table, in her condo with beat-up cupboards and worn carpets, explaining why she believes a global charity of do-gooders are a bunch of greedy jerks.
Ms. McEachern is 101 years old and sparring with the Rotary International Foundation over her late husband’s estate, worth roughly $40-million. Steve McEachern’s chicken-scratch signature is on his will, dated Nov. 22, 2019, which appears to bequeath the money to the Rotary after his wife dies. But, between signing the will and his death 10 months later at 98, Ms. McEachern said her husband changed his mind.
Mary and Steve McEachern married in Ireland in 1946, before moving to Canada.Kelsey McMillan/The Globe and Mail
She took care of him in their condo, kitty-corner to the University of Alberta Hospital, during his final months. He decided that he had given enough to the Rotary throughout his lifetime, according to Ms. McEachern. Instead, he wanted the money spread around to charities closer to home, she said. The widow, who is a co-trustee of the will, wants to distribute the money to the Rotary and 17 other charities, ranging from the Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind to the air ambulance organization known as Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service Foundation (STARS).
“STARS, when they’d fly over, Steve would say: ‘There they go, saving another life. Make sure they are on the list,’ ” Ms. McEachern said.
She rubs her hands back and forth on her thighs when she gets worked up, discussing her frustrations with the Rotary. “I know what they really want. What Rotary wants is for me to die,” she said. “If I’m dead, they get all of Steve’s hard-earned money.”
Ms. McEachern, a war bride born in Ireland who worked as a nurse in England before meeting Steve and moving to Canada after their marriage in 1946, says the Rotary is trying to run out the clock rather than negotiating a deal. “They are greedy.”
The McEacherns did not have any children. Trish Young, a niece, is helping Ms. McEachern navigate the legal and public relations fight. The pair insist Mr. McEachern’s will gives the widow the right to encroach on the instructions outlined in the document. The women also argue Ms. McEachern, as a surviving spouse, is entitled to 50 per cent of the estate.
Ms. McEachern, they note, worked as a nurse in Alberta and, for four decades, as her husband’s unpaid assistant. The McEacherns amassed their fortune largely thanks to Mr. McEachern’s career as an adviser with Investors Group, according to court documents. His assets include shares of Canadian Western Bank issued in 1970, TransAlta Corp. shares he’s held since 1980, and Power Corp. of Canada stock dating back to 1984, according to documents filed in court.
Ms. McEachern insists she is pursuing her husband’s deathbed wishes and that the Rotary is to blame for the dust-up. The Rotary, meanwhile, takes issue with Ms. McEachern’s tactics and disputes that it is acting immorally.
Dean Rohrs, a former vice-president of Rotary International, said the global organization was not informed that it was Mr. McEachern’s beneficiary until about 18 months after his death, when the trust company that is co-trustee of the will asked the court to inform the charity of its status.
Ms. McEachern insists she is pursuing her husband’s deathbed wishes and that the Rotary is to blame for the dust-up.Kelsey McMillan/The Globe and Mail
The will’s instructions – that the money be used to supply fresh water, sanitation, and micro-financing to underdeveloped countries – mirrors a large donation Mr. McEachern made to the Rotary while he was alive, Ms. Rohrs said in an interview.
“That’s where his passion lay and that’s where he wanted his funds to go,” she said.
Ms. Rohrs, who joined the Rotary when women were first permitted on July 1, 1989, said the organization has a fiduciary duty to make good on Mr. McEachern’s will.
“We have to honour a donor and understand what his intent was and make sure that we follow his instructions,” she said.
The Rotary acknowledged it is aware of Ms. McEachern’s offer, proposed in June, to give the charity all of the estate, save for $13.5-million. But Ms. Rohrs said the Rotary does not have all of the necessary information to strike such a deal. It is unclear, for example, how much tax is owed, whether there are liens or other liabilities, and the actual value of the entire package.
“We would be irresponsible if we sat down and said we are giving away so much when we don’t even know what we are giving it away from,” Ms. Rohrs said.
The Rotary, she said, is open to compromising with Ms. McEachern, once it has all the information it needs. And if that happens, Mr. McEachern’s will – both the legal document he signed and the verbal wishes he expressed to his wife – will feature prominently.
“We have a donor with a legal will that we always have to keep in mind,” Ms. Rohrs said. “We are speaking on his behalf, as far as we know, from our side of the table.”