At Cyndy Hayward’s.

We gathered at Cyndy’s place, the most northerly home within Oysterville’s National Historic District.  Most of us were “local” but there were others from afar — all of us in bright summer plumage and carrying treats to share and, of course, stories to tell.  As I watched people arrive, greeting one another, checking out the food, moving from one viewpoint to another I couldn’t help but think how we all resembled Madeline’s beloved birds — all of us gathering to bid her farewell on this, the last of her journeys.

Madeline Kalbach

Too, it felt as though she would be back.  She fully expected to return when she left here in early May… or so she led us all to believe.  She and and Susan (and Susan’s intrepid dog Luna) were headed back to Madeline’s home in Calgary where she had already booked appointments with her doctors.  She wasn’t feeling well, but if she was alarmed, she didn’t say so…  though somehow, we all knew.  Especially when she and Susan gifted their trip to Baja to friends with little explanation except that Madeline thought it might be better to be in closer touch with her doctors than to be without cellphone coverage.

Yum!

Whether it was through her birding columns in our weekly Observer newspaper — often more than a page in length and stunningly illustrated by her marvelous photographs as well as by those of partner Susan Stauffer —  or her work with the Wildlife Refuge or wtith school children of all ages — we were all well aware of her work.  (I might add here, that she made many of the rest of us contributors to the local paper look less than generous by donating every last word and photo — a marvelous benificence we all wished we could emulate… but alas!

What many of us knew less about were the facts of her personal life and of her illustrious career — recounted here in her obituatury by Cate Gable from the June 14, 2026 Chinook Observer:  Madeline began teaching in 1961 and, many degrees later, became professor of sociology and director of the Ethnic Studies and Population Research Laboratory, University of Calgary, 1995-2006. Her name appears on many academic papers (she has entries in the “Canadian Encyclopedia”). Her major research interests were studies involving people or birds. She was married to Dr. Warren Kalbach until his death in 2005; he also had a Ph.D. in sociology. They collaborated on many academic studies and raised a daughter and a son. Madeline has many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
In her college teaching career, she was always on the right side of justice and contributed to many papers and projects involving population studies, ethnicity, and multiculturalism — like the 2002 project called “In the Shadows — Live-in Caregivers in Alberta.” (Madeline and her research team were cited in the final report.) The Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) named her a Notable Woman in a 2019 ceremony. Madeline was also acknowledged and thanked by several Ph.D. candidates finishing their degrees. She was appointed professor emeritus in January 2006.

Future Birders??

I first heard Madeline’s name back in 2015 when she volunteered a week of birding and environmental experiences to Diane Buttrell’s 4th Grade Science Academy held at the Oysterville Schoolhouse for several summers. I contrived to meet her and offer my house as a location for “studying” barn swallow nests which proliferate here each spring and summer.  I loved it that the children came, listened closely to Madeline, used their binoculars, took field notes, and returned to class where they donned white lab coats and documented their “findings.”  I have no doubt that over the years, Madeline inspired life-long birders in addition to a much greater awareness of the bounty of this region along the Pacific Flyway.

And there was music by BetteLu and Cate…

We became friends. Madeline and I, gradually, and more because of our interest in teaching/learning/writing/ and… yes, Bloody Marys with garlic-stuffed olives rather than those complicated salads on a stick.  (In fact, the appetizer I took for her Goodbye Gathering were…drum roll…garlic stuffed olives on extra-long toothpicks!)  If you are intrigued, I recommend only the Mazzetta brand.  They are crisp crunchy and not a bit mooshie like some of the others.  Madeline and I were in perfect agreement on that!

Madeline at work and play!

One personal lament — when my cousin/landlord Alex’s book General and Comparative Endocrinology – An Integrative Approach came out in 2023, Madeline was entranced and wanted to buy a copy.  Instead, Alex sent her one for Christmas and she read it like you or I might read an Agatha Christie mystery.  She had so wanted to meet Alex, but their timing never coordinated.  I’m so sorry — they would have had lots to say to one another and no doubt would have left the rest of us in the dust.  But surely that would have been the only time…  Madeline was a past-master and bringing us all along on her discoveriens and news about birds and other environmental concerns.  Plus she had a great sense of humor, endless enthusiasm and was just plain fun.  I shatll miss her always…