Quiet Dignity
My father, John Watts, was born on February 11, 1911 in London, England and came to Canada with his mother, Florence Ethel, when he was 14 years old. John’s father, Percy, died when John was three. Percy was with the British Army in India and died of complications arising from his service in that country. When John was 16, he ventured out on his own, working at anything and everything he could in order to supplement the family’s earnings. He was a grocery delivery boy, whistle punk in a logging camp in Sooke, B.C., and a farmhand before riding the rails to Alberta to work on threshing gangs on farms and ranches. In 1933, he met Dora Coombe (my mother) in Rockyford, Alta., and they were married in 1936. In 1937, John and Dora moved into their own homestead in Crammond, just north of Olds, Alta., and lived there until John joined the Royal Canadian Engineers, 5th Division, 10th Field Squadron of the Canadian Army in October 1940. He left for England one year later. John was involved in the Italian Campaign and was stationed in France, Holland, Belgium and Germany. He was mentioned specifically for brave actions by himself and his squad in the Vancouver newspapers on a number of occasions during the war. He was the recipient of the Italy Star, France and Germany Star, the 1939-1945 Star, the Defence Medal, the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and clasp, and the War Medal, 1939-1945. He left the army as a sergeant in 1946.
My mother, along with my brother
Ken and I, left Alberta in December
1940, and moved first to Pitt Meadows and later Hammond, B.C.
Upon John’s arrival in Hammond, he soon found employment with the Hammond Cedar Company, and later British Columbia Forest Products
(B.C. F. P.), where he remained until his retirement in March 1976. Our family grew to include another daughter, Wendy, and two more sons, Raymond and Barry.
John was a quiet man. He was modest to a fault. He never demanded respect but earned it easily. He was also not a religious man but lived by the Commandments with ease. He was very compassionate and empathetic, and always had time to listen and lend a helping hand. John’s passing was a great loss to us, and the world is a poorer place for his absence—that is the finest legacy that any man can leave.