Grandpa Jim.

Today, a bit about my mom's dad, or, as I knew him, Grandpa Jim. He was one of those big personalities and people that you couldn't help but remember. I remember that he loved to play Gin Rummy. Whenever my brother (at the time, a kid aged 10 or less) would challenge him to play for money, he would gladly play, win all the hands, and all my brother's change, and keep it, saying that if you are willing to play for money, you have to be willing to lose it. He raised his family in Kenora, ON, and was an English teacher, Mayor of the town (during his tenure, he negotiated an end to an Oka-style situation on the reserve just outside Kenora, and he was honoured with the gift of a genuine peace-pipe from the chief, for which he was written up in Time back in the `60s), and when retired, spearheaded the credit union movement both in Kenora, and in Africa, where he travelled several times just before my grandmother passed away when I was a baby. He received a Senior Citizen's Achievement Award from the Ontario Government back in 1986. He passed away of a heart attack, probably purposefully, the night before he was to move out of his house, in which he'd lived for over 40 years, and into an assisted care facility. He was also the reason why, as children, we had an overabundance of Crown Royal bags in which to put marbles, Lego, action figures, etc. So, here's to you, James Noble Davidson!