Browse the obituary of residing in the province of Nova Scotia for funeral details

John Edward Thompson
1942-2024
“In the
end, we’ll all become
stories.”
– Margaret Atwood, Moral
Disorder and Other Stories
It is
with heavy hearts that we share that John Edward Thompson passed away
peacefully on February 21st, 2024, at Valley Regional Hospital, after
a brief but incredibly courageous battle with cancer. John is survived
by his wife, Gaynor Kleiber; children (with his first wife Sandra
Carter) Angela (Stephan) and Melissa (Andrew); grandchildren Emily
(Micael) and Alexandre; Shyla and Keely; Abbey Leigh, Maggie, Erik,
Anna, and Lauren; great grandchildren Hunter and Hayley; and many
cherished siblings, in-laws (past and present), extended family, and
friends. He is predeceased by his son John and stepdaughter
Monica.
John was
infamous for taking the scenic route. When his youngest daughter
Melissa first moved to Hamilton, he offered to take her on a bike tour
of the city. What should have been a short trip down Main Street,
quickly became a tour of Hamilton’s back roads and
John’s favourite neighbourhoods. By his own admission, he
knew the fastest way to get downtown, but for him, it was always about
the journey. Thus, in the spirit of taking the scenic route, we will
bypass the typical tourist traps of an obituary, like listing his
credentials and qualifications, in favour of a scenic tour of the
(long and very winding) journey that mattered to him most: forming
connections with other people, be they family, friend or stranger. His
connections were many, as were his iPad notes and photographs. John
was an infamous note creator, and equally famous for not being able to
find the notes he had previously created (or his passwords, for that
matter), something his family would gently rib him about. When looking
through his 100+ notes and over 8000 photographs, it quickly became
evident that there would be a lot of ground to cover in his obituary.
Sincere apologies to those who may have been left out; it was not
maliciously done. Instead, it was meant to keep his obituary from
becoming a novella, something he probably would have loved anyways. We
may or may not have been successful in this
endeavour.
Born on
March 21st, 1942, in Shawinigan, Quebec, John was lovingly given up by
his birth mother and shortly thereafter adopted by Doris and Bertram
Thompson. By his own account, he had a wonderful life growing up with
his adopted siblings, Lynn, Donna, and David. He was a precocious
child and cost his parents a pretty penny having once scrambled into
the back of a tv repairman’s truck only to toss several
cathode-ray tubes onto the ground for
fun.
Luckily,
John ultimately turned his attention and high energy to sports. He was
a lifelong and devoted athlete, with a passion for basketball,
football, rugby, track and field, and weightlifting. His love of
sports even carried over into his parenting style. John loved to
reminisce about carrying his daughters around on his shoulders,
dropping his girls off at school, and coaching them in basketball. He
liked to say that when they learned to walk, it was a wonderous thing,
but when they learned to swim, now that was incredible. He often said
he wanted to raise two strong girls who would grow up to become two
strong women. His daughters confirm that his unorthodox approach to
rearing children, such as using them as free labour to move heavy
appliances and furniture, and spending countless weekends bringing
them to weightlifting competitions, basketball games, and track and
field events, prepared them well in that regard. The arrival of his
beautiful grandchildren Emily and Alex presented John with further
opportunities to share his passion for sports, as well as his love for
jazz, farmer’s markets, cooking, and all things gardening.
Continuing in the tradition of free labour, he put them to work in his
kitchen and yard whenever the opportunity presented
itself.
In later
years, John developed a passion for cycling, which he shared with
family and friends, sometimes against their will, often traveling
extensive distances over several days with them, arguing and making up
along the way. When he eventually retired his bike, he loved watching
the Tour de France, figure skating, the Toronto Raptors, March
Madness, golf, and tennis, often alongside his wife Gay. To the dismay
of his granddaughter Emily, he could never quite get on board with
hockey.
John was
a lifelong recruiter. Oblivious to the embarrassment of his teenaged
daughters at the time, he would often chat up tall adolescent girls on
the busses and metros of Montreal to recruit members to whichever
basketball team he was coaching at the time. To his credit, he was
more often successful in these recruiting attempts than not. John had
an eye for talent and his love of the game was profound, going so far
as to even attempt to recruit a particularly tall nurse in his final
days in hospital.
His
recruiting efforts even led to the love of his life, Gay, who he first
met while on a basketball recruiting trip to Fredericton, New
Brunswick in 1963. He never forgot this connection, and she always
held a special place in his memory. He was thrilled when they
eventually reunited in 2004, gaining stepdaughter Monica (Mark), as
well as his two beautiful step granddaughters, Shyla and Keely. But
Gay had given John an ultimatum; if they were going to be together, he
would need to travel. And travel they did. They traveled by plane,
train, and cruise ship for the better part of 20 years. When COVID hit
in 2020, they switched footing and began exploring closer to home.
Throughout it all, John never stopped making connections. No matter
where he was, John never met a person he couldn’t strike up
a conversation with, be it on the deck of a cruise ship, in the middle
of an active construction zone, or in the hospital. As his grandson
Alex once noted, the logo on a baseball cap was enough for John to get
a genuine and meaningful conversation
rolling.
In his
70s, John became intrigued by his heritage and started using his DNA
to explore his origins. In January 2018, his maternal cousin Caryl
reached out saying “Your DNA is a fairly close match to mine.
Who are you?” John had no idea at the time how much that
message would change his life. In May 2018 Caryl led him to the joyous
discovery of his biological mother’s identity, Dorval (Val)
Lottie Smith, through his half-sister Jane, as well as four more half
siblings, Glen, Randy, Margo, and Gary, and their
families.
In March
2018, just shy of his 76th birthday, he was contacted by Kelly Heilig,
the wife of his son John Heilig, who had also been given up at birth.
While initially terrified, this discovery brought him immeasurable
joy. He was thrilled that in September 2019, he was able to make the
trip to Roberts Creek, British Columbia, to meet John and Kelly, and
learn about their five wonderful children, Abbey Leigh, Maggie, Erik,
Anna, & Lauren.
John and
Caryl continued to work tirelessly to discover the identity of
John’s birth father and in July 2021, they were successful.
John was excited and relieved to finally name Victor Barry Poirier as
his birth father. Equally exciting, he was rewarded with the discovery
of a sixth half sibling, Suzanne, and her
family.