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John "Jack" H. Black
June 25, 1921 - February 25, 2015
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<div itemprop="description">JOHN &ldquo;JACK&rdquo; HENDRY BLACK, D-DAY VET, ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY <br />June 25, 1921-February 25, 2015 <br /> <br />On Wednesday, February 25, 2015, on his own terms, Jack passed away at Toronto Grace with his devoted wife Lydia (nee James) by his side. Forever missed for his fierce independence, his hard work, his ingenuity, his wit, his loyalty and his love. <br />Born after WWI in Victoria Road, ON, the eldest son of William George Black and Elizabeth Clarkson Brown, a Scottish war-bride, Jack was the descendant of Irish pioneers John and Elizabeth (Trimble) Black who settled in Mariposa Township in 1825. <br />A jack-of-all-trades, he enjoyed current events, working on his truck, plumbing, doing his own electrical work and carpentry and growing giant vegetables. From age 14, he worked in factories and on Great Lakes ships and then as an independent trucking contractor for the City of Toronto. A child of the Great Depression, he came of age in WWII. At age 22, he sailed on the minesweeper Malpeque. Just after midnight on the June 6, 1944, using electronic navigation aids of extreme precision, unable to take evasive action if under attack, sometimes within a mile and a half of German coastal guns, the Canadian minesweeping flotillas off Omaha Beach successfully cleared the assault channels. <br />Six months before the war ended, Jack and Lydia had married in Victoria Harbor. They raised their girls in Toronto, where Jack renovated their homes, a cottage and then in his fifties, a hundred-acre farm in Eldon Township, close to his roots. A fitness buff long before it was fashionable, Jack did Navy exercises for years and walked for miles into his 90s. When he retired at 70, Jack and Lydia took their first airplane trip to Nassau, Bahamas. They also enjoyed several social winters at Lake Panasoffkee, Florida, but his real love was the farm, where he re-built a log house, had a barn full of cats and cows and kept a huge vegetable garden. Even after he and Lydia re-located to Lindsay, family and neighbors enjoyed the bounty of his backyard garden. <br />Jack is predeceased by siblings Bill and Betty. He leaves behind his wife of nearly 70 years; children Karen, Jean-Anne and Nancy; niece Traci; sons-in-law John, George and Ivan; grandchildren Jesse (Tova), Val (Vlad), Caitlin (Rob), Spiro (Debbie), Aidan (Ryan), Meredith and Bethany; great-grandchildren Harrison, Victoria, Clara, Finn, Riley, Sofia, Hazel and George; sisters Rina, Ina and Isobel and a huge extended family. <br />Memorial at Lynett Funeral Home, Toronto, Sat. Mar 7, 1-5 pm. For those who wish, donations to Cystic Fibrosis Canada (cysticfibrosis.ca)would be appreciated.</div>