November 11, 1923 – November 22, 2021
After a short illness, our beloved Jack, with his wife and four children at his side, went peacefully to be with his Lord on November 22, 2021 at Brantford General Hospital.
Born in London, England to Leonard Theodore Bawcutt and Margeurite Lillian Over, Jack was a teenager when WWII broke out and he volunteered as an air-raid warden. At 3:00 a.m., after a heavy night of bombing during the Blitz of 1940, Jack was invited home by a friend whose mother and sister were serving tea to the exhausted volunteers. It was there, against a fiery backdrop, that Jack met Joyce Wood-Gaines, and they instantly fell in love, forming – a passionate and loving affair relationship that would last for almost over eighty years.
When he was of age, Jack enlisted in the RAF and was sent to Canada under the Commonwealth Air Training Plan to become a pilot and earn his wings. “I loved flying above the clouds, it was so peaceful there,” recalled Jack. While training, he met the second love of his life – Canada.
Upon Jack’s return to England, at the end of the war, he and Joyce reunited, married, and started their family. In November 1956, Jack and Joyce and their young family of three children, immigrated to Canada, and settled in Paris, ON, a textile town, founded at the forks of Grand and Nith Rivers. They joined the Paris Presbyterian Church and Jack began work at the iconic wool and sweater design company, Mary Maxim, and later at Penman’s, the textile company that formed the bedrock of the town.
Over time, Jack and Joyce added another child to their family and owned and operated a number of businesses. But no job that Jack held, either working for others or himself, could compare to his rewarding experience of serving Paris for seventeen years as the town’s Mayor. “I enjoyed working for the townsfolk,” said Jack, “I also liked I could give back to the community that had been so kind to us.” In 2001 Jack was honoured by the town as “Paris Citizen of the Year.” Jack’s contributions to the town of Paris will be memorialized by the Bawcutt Centre at the restored and revitalized Paris Old Town Hall.
Jack has a long history of community service including serving as a board-member of the Willet Hospital foundation, Chair of Prima Care (community family health team), Elder of the Presbyterian church (50 years.), and member of the Board of Managers for the Presbyterian church (25 years).
Jack is survived by the love of his life, his wife Joyce Bawcutt, and his four children: Linda Schuyler (Stephen), Tony Bawcutt (Tracy), Barb Graham (Rob), and Michael Bawcutt (Lori). He is the beloved “Papa B” to Max, Erika, Carter, Patrick, Christopher, Garrett, Kyle, Matthew, Heather, and “Great Papa B” to Austin, Hannah, Mason, Madison, Scarlett, and Leighton.
Jack will forever be remembered for the twinkle in his eye, his sharp sense of humour, his fair and balanced judgement, his kind and supportive words to all, and his deep and unfailing love of God. Jack lived his life by the serenity prayer:”God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And, The wisdom to know the difference.”
