John Thomas Reath
1945-2022
John Thomas Reath of Moncton NB, passed quietly from
complications of COVID on February 4, 2022. He was born in
December 1945 in St. Thomas Ontario to John “Jack” Reath and
Gwendolyn “Gwen” Reath (nee Waller) whom both pre-deceased
him. John was also pre-deceased by his second wife,
Hélèna Reath (nee Bourque). John is survived by
his 3 brothers; James, Peter and Christopher and his sister
Jane.
John is survived by his two loving sons; Jeffrey, married to
Tracy (nee Steeves) and their four children; Jacob, Caleb, Logan and
Alyxandria and Jason, married to Sandra (nee Savard) and their four
children; Conner, Isabelle, Sawyer Smith and Katie Smith. John was
pre-deceased by one of Jason’s children, Baby J. John is
also survived by his stepson Charles Gauthier. As well, John is
survived by his first wife and mother of his two sons, Sandra Mascolo
(nee Smalley).
John grew up in St. Thomas Ontario where he attended Catholic
school, was an altar boy and played basketball. He tried
hard to learn piano, but admitted he was likely more distracted by the
idea of slipping off to go fishing. This love for fishing is
something that he maintained throughout his life. His desire
to learn piano came back late in life, but he once again was
distracted, this time by learning to SCUBA dive. As a result, he
finally admitted the piano was something his younger brother Peter
would always be better at.
John left home early in life, striking out for the burgeoning
industrial markets in northern Alberta. He spent time
working as a geophysical technician and building snowsheds over the
railways with his brother Peter. As he described it,
“it was a time when he could drop explosives into drill holes,
wait for the boom and pretend to find things
underground.” While extending his education at the
Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in the late 60’s
John had two momentous events. First was making the decision
to move to the East Coast and join the Canadian Navy, following his
brother Jim and secondly he met his first wife, Sandra. Both
his basic training and wedding occurred in late 1967, followed by the
birth of Jeffrey in 1968.
In the Navy, John sailed on five surface ships including the
HMCS Iroquois, HMCS Huron and HMCS Algonquin. His trade as
Surface Weapons Technologist was a challenge he enjoyed, but
seasickness always lurked in the background. John made many
lifelong friends in the Navy and was proud of his service to the
country. In 1974, his second son, Jason, was born.
Following this new addition to the family, John decided to retire from
the Navy and return to Alberta seeking a career in the pipeline
construction field. While on a trip to Calgary,
investigating possible positions, his brother-in-law approached him
with a radical idea. As John describes it, he was asked:
“Do you want to eat your lunch out of a box, or off a
plate?” Instead of embarking on a new job in the field,
John joined his brother-in-law as an Insurance Agent.
In 1976, John packed his wife and two boys into the Plymouth
Fury and left Lower Sackville, NS setting out for Calgary.
John joined SunLife Assurance as a new agent, learned about sales and
client services and spent his leisure time fishing the elusive rainbow
trout. After two years, John’s father-in-law offered him an
assistant branch manager position back in New Brunswick. In
1978 John once again set out across country with his wife and two boys
in tow, heading first to Fredericton for 9 months and then finally to
Riverview.
John spent the next 17 years working for SunLife as an agent,
assistant manager, sub-branch manager and again as an agent.
His son Jeffrey joined him in 1993 and they moved onto become brokers
in 1995 with relationships at various insurance companies and
brokerages. John excelled at developing close relationships
with his clients, calling many of them friends. John
continued to work as an insurance broker right up to his last day
before the sudden onset of his illness in 2017.
Throughout his professional career, John engaged in many
long-term projects and groups in which he took tremendous
pride. John was an instructor and mentor with the local
chapter of the Life Underwriters Association of Canada, worked with
the Greater Moncton Volunteer Centre, aided in establishing the
Greater Moncton Estate Planning Council and was a Charter member of
the Moncton West & Riverview Rotary Club, which twice
recognized his dedication and service with Paul Harris
Awards.
In his personal life, John was active in the church at St.
James Anglican, volunteered as a Cub Scout Leader and of course
escaped for fishing trips whenever he could. One of his most
cherished memories was when two of his brothers, Peter and Chris,
joined him for a salmon fishing trip that resulted in a full quota.
John never missed an opportunity to cheer on Jeffrey and
Jason in their activities and was a fixture on the football stick
crew, brought fresh cut oranges out at halftime and made
80’s style team programs to pass out to other parents. John
carried this cheerful support to all his grandchildren’s
activities whether it was on the field, at the dance studio, on the
cadet parade square, at the rink, or in the gym.
Although John and Sandra divorced in 1988, they maintained a
cordial relationship throughout their remaining years. John
married Hélèna in 1994 and was welcomed into her
extended family. This included
Hélèna’s son Charles with whom John
formed a warm relationship.
During the 7 years they were together prior to
Hélèna’s passing in 2002, they
welcomed two grandchildren, Jacob and Caleb, developed a passion for
skiing, travelled Europe, spent countless evenings camping on the
beach and took trips to the orchard. John insisted on living
for the moment and believed in family time well spent. Each
summer there were large, multi-family BBQs, croquet tournaments and
impromptu fashion shows for the young ones in attendance. It
was during these times that John was in his element, always welcoming
anyone who wanted to have fun and cooking all day long. But
his particular favourite time was Sunday brunch where he would make a
multitude of different flavours of pancakes. John and
Hélèna were always ready to open their home with
kindness whether to family, strangers stranded during 9/11, Rotary
exchange students, or someone needing a place to stay while studying
at Université de Moncton.
After losing Hélèna too soon, John
threw himself into living his best life. He travelled to
South Africa on a Rotary program for 6 weeks, learned to SCUBA Dive
and travelled to experience different locales. He welcomed
four more grandchildren over the early 2000’s and was
delighted to also be able to include Jason’s extended family
as it grew. John never stopped learning and continued to be
a valuable asset to his clients.
In 2017 John developed a rapid developing form of
Dementia. He entered into long term care facilities where
ultimately he declined and recently contracted COVID. It was
this terrible disease that ultimately defeated his strong desire to
live, laugh and love. It is with sadness that we say good
bye to a man, a father, a Pépère, a friend and a
mentor. However, it is also with pride that we recall a life
well lived.
Dad was a person that truly believed you could learn
anything, if you tried hard enough. Except perhaps calculus, which he
considered to be beyond comprehension. He had a computer
before it was commonplace, he loved to contemplate star charts and
astrology and his gardens were his personal oasis. A quiet
sit in the woods with a sip of scotch and backwoods cigar was his idea
of being as close to paradise as he could get. He was a
jogger, swimmer, walker and squash player. All in all, he
was a good person, and that is all he ever wanted to
be.
There will be no visitation or funeral services until a
spring internment, when he will be laid to rest beside
Hélèna. Should one wish to commemorate
John’s life, he would be the first to say “Take a
moment and tell someone you love them. Don’t waste your time
or money on me.” If you wish to support a charity, please choose
one close to your heart. John was always ready to canvas and raise
money for the Canadian Cancer Society, Heart and Stroke Foundation as
well as various Rotary projects.
The family would like to thank the staff at the Kenneth E.
Spencer Memorial Home for their tireless work and effort.
They would also like to thank friends and family that have checked in
on John over the years, especially Diane and Rick for their many
visits with Dad. The family also sincerely appreciates all
the well wishes expressed through the many and varied means over the
days following John’s passing.
His arrangements are entrusted to Cobb’s Funeral
Home and Cremation Center, 330 Whitepine Road, Riverview
(869-2007).
John’s celebration of life will be on Tuesday, May
17, 2022 from 5 pm – 7 pm at the funeral home.
>Click here to View Condolences
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of John Thomas Reath 19452022..
Death notice for the town of: Riverview, Province: Nouveau-Brunswick