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We are heartbroken to share that Jim passed away peacefully after a short stay at Ridge Meadows Hospital.
Jim was a gregarious man who never met a stranger. His network of friends and colleagues was vast; just how vast we didn’t know until tributes to him started rolling in. He was a multi-faceted, multi-talented man with many interests, including woodworking, golfing, travelling, gardening, botany, photography, birding, and many more. In the eyes of his daughters he was the kind of Dad who it seemed could build anything out of wood, from houses and stables to intricate chessboards and model boats.
His early careers were almost as varied as his interests. As a young man craving adventure, he went to work on the DEW (Distant Early Warning) Line very far north in Canada. What he did there was never fully revealed, but the purpose of the DEW line was to monitor the country’s northern border and to give us enough time to launch a retaliatory nuclear strike if the Soviets ever launched first.
Later he worked as a bank accountant where his gift for easily understanding numbers and math was a true asset. Next he excelled as an electrician at Canadian Telephone & Supplies, a subsidiary of BCTel, but he knew that he hadn’t found his calling yet. That calling finally found him in the early 1960s when he discovered that working in air traffic control was where he was meant to be. Over the next thirty-five years he built a remarkable career where he made many friends and was a mentor to young controllers, guiding them and cheering them on as they built their own careers.
Retiring in 1998 didn’t stop Jim’s desire to keep busy. He was not a man who liked to keep still! He took a job as a chauffeur and regaled us with funny stories about some of the passengers he transported. He also had a goal to photograph as many of British Columbia’s native wildflowers as he could, a project that took him 4X4’ing way off the beaten path. He was proud to have turned his photos into a book called Wildflowers of British Columbia.
Jim’s favourite adventure though, was courting his wife Marian. He eventually won her heart and they married in September of 1960. They met at a dance and, after it was over, he offered her a ride home but she declined because she had driven there in her own car! That really impressed him and he was determined to learn more about this blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty. We lost Marian in 2017 and Jim missed her deeply. He is now free to dance with his beloved for all of time.
Jim leaves behind a legacy through his two daughters, Shelley (Rob) and Susanne (Bryan), his four grandchildren, Rogan (Cassie), Erinn (Tyler), Evan, and Colin, and his great-granddaughter Brae.
Memories and refreshments will be shared at his Celebration of Life on Thursday, March 27th at 1:00pm in the Ebony Room at Meadow Gardens Golf Club, 19675 Meadow Gardens Way, Pitt Meadows. Please RSVP by March 12th to Shelley by email at saeast@telus.net or by phone at 604-828-4685. If you’d like to speak at this Celebration, please let us know in your RSVP. We have designated 2 to 3 minutes for each speaker. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the British Columbia Heart and Stroke Foundation.
Wednesday February 12th 2025
Death notice for the town of: Coquitlam, Province: Colombie britanique
death notice Jim Clements Wednesday February 12th 2025
obituaries notice Jim Clements Wednesday February 12th 2025
We offer our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Jim Clements Wednesday February 12th 2025 and hope that their memory may be a source of comfort during this difficult time. Your thoughts and kind words are greatly appreciated.
