Leon Jeffrey Hawes
March 13, 1940 – August 21, 2021
Leon Jeffrey Hawes
March 13, 1940 – August 21, 2021
Leon succumbed to cancer at home in the company of Rachel, his loving wife of 52 years, and daughters Natalie (Mark Avery), Madeline (Rob Nixon) and Vanessa (Rob Burgess). Missing their Grandpa are Teigan and Dereck; Joel, Max and Tim; James, Charlotte and Maya. Born in England, Leon was predeceased by his parents and brother, Peter, and is survived by his caring sister Liz Roberts.
In 1965 Leon immigrated to Toronto to pursue his career in Instrumentational Engineering. He was an engineer through and through; precision was important, there was nothing that couldn’t be fixed, and it was always a “British” job.
In his early days in Canada, Leon enjoyed mountaineering and in 1967 participated in the Yukon Alpine Centennial Expedition with Sir John Hunt. When it came time to settle down, Leon and Rachel moved to Oakville to raise their family.
Leon loved the outdoors and enjoyed spending time at the family cottage in Muskoka. He spent many hours rebuilding decks and expanding the cottage to accommodate the growing family. His other passions were wood working, cycling, genealogy, swimming and birding. He was a founding member of the Oakville Cycling Club and more recently relished volunteering at the Velodrome in Milton. He spent countless hours lobbying the Town of Oakville to increase the number of bike lanes and make his community more cycling friendly. He was also a member of the Hamilton Naturalists’ Club – Bird Study Group and a former member of the West Oakville Ratepayers Association. Leon loved to travel with Rachel, and often combined their exploration of new places with their love of cycling and birdwatching. His final undertaking was as project coordinator for the kitchen renovation at Walton Memorial United Church where he put his engineering skills to good use.
Due to COVID restrictions, a private celebration of life will be held at Walton Memorial United Church.
Thank you for your friendship and kindness. We would love to hear your stories and to reminisce about Leon. Please consider signing the guestbook below. To keep everyone safe at this time, take a moment to celebrate Leon’s life in your own way and think about how lucky we were to have him in our lives.
If wished, donations in Leon’s memory would be welcomed to either the Walton Memorial United Church – Memorial Fund – Kitchen Project – waltonmemorial.churchcenter.com/giving or Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital – www.haltonhealthcare.on.ca/donate
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Leon Jeffrey Hawes March 13 1940 August 21 2021..
Kopriva Taylor Community Funeral Home
Death notice for the town of: Oakville, Province: Ontario