Waldron Abbott MacQuarrie was born in 1890 at Hampton, Prince Edward Island, the son of William A. MacQuarrie and Morey Montague MacVittie. He received his early education in the local school and, in 1906, entered Prince of Wales College, Charlottetown, where he received a second class teaching license in 1907. After teaching school for two years, he returned to Prince of Wales College, and in 1910, graduated second in his class, winning the Governor General's Silver Medal and the Vice Chancellor's Prize for Mathematics. He proceeded to Dalhousie University, with a Sir William Young Scholarship, and received the degree of Bachelor of Arts with distinction in 1913. For the next three years he studied theology at the Presbyterian College, Halifax, Nova Scotia, later known as Pine Hill Divinity Hall. Upon graduation in 1916, he won the Carmichael and Alumni post-graduate Scholarship for the highest standing among the graduates of the College for the preceding three years. He was awarded the degree of Bachelor of Divinity in 1920 for special studies and theses in the New Testament.

After ordination in May of 1916, Rev. MacQuarrie held a pastorate at North Bedeque for four years, and then went to Scotland's Edinburgh University where he studied in the Post Graduate School of Theology and also New College where he studied New Testament and Systematic Theology for two winters. During the summer, he studied in Germany. On returning to Canada in 1922, he held pastorates at Rexton and Edmundston, New Brunswick, LaHave, Nova Scotia, and Hunter River and Souris, PEI.

Along with his studies and career, Waldron MacQuarrie was also greatly involved in the Masonic Lodge. He was initiated into the masons in December 1914. In April of 1915, he received his Fellowcraft degree and in June of that same year, his Master Mason degree. He was Junior Warden in 1917, Senior Warden in 1918 and Worshipful Master in 1920. Rev. MacQuarrie was appointed Grand Chaplain in 1922 and held that position at different times from 1937 to 1943. In 1944, he was elected Junior Grand Warden, Senior Grand Warden in 1945 and Deputy Grand Master in 1946.

Rev. MacQuarrie was secretary of the Prince Edward Island Presbytery for a number of years and in June of 1947 was honored by being elected President of the Maritime Conference of the United Church of Canada. Another honor bestowed upon him was the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity which he received from the Senate of Pine Hill Divinity Hall, Halifax, N.S. in 1949. Together with his first wife, formerly Annie Auld of Freetown, Rev. MacQuarrie had three children, namely Walter, Robert and Nettie. Rev. MacQuarrie remarried after Annie's death in 1950. He died sometime between June 1985 and March 1987.