JOHN (JACK) ANDERSON DAGG

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JOHN (JACK) ANDERSON DAGG August 10, 1927 - November 9, 2012 Dad's life story began on August 10, 1927 in Holland, MB, the oldest child of Art and Bessie Dagg. Within a short time, he would have two younger sisters, Patricia (Callahan), and Lorraine (Reid), with whom he was very close to, even though they would love to recount his antics to their parents after all the dances they had been to around the Holland area. By his account though, and given the times, Dad was forced to grow up quickly, as many others were. His father had gone to Prince Rupert to do sheet metal work for the war effort and dad became the man of the house. There wasn't a lot of money and dad started working at his Grandpa Frank Dagg's hardware store at 13 and by age 14, he was delivering fuel to the farms in the area. Of course the local R.C.M.P. officer wasn't too pleased about that but dad always made up some kind of story that it wasn't really him. The officer told dad that he was in the wrong occupation - he should become an actor! Life was hard no doubt, but some good times were definitely had and dad spoke fondly of hockey games and curling bonspiels. From looking at his old photos, dad seems to have been a fairly popular guy in Holland and he never really disliked anyone . 1945 rolled around and when there wasn't enough work at the hardware store to pay him, Dad realized that he would have to leave Holland. He moved into Winnipeg and roomed with a nice family on Spence Street who treated him like one of their own. Putting his hardware knowledge to use, he began working at Ashdown's for the busy summer and fall season, but that work dried up also. Dad answered an ad for a lineman position with the C.P.R. and he was grateful that they took a chance on him. In the winter of 1946 he was stationed in Dinorwic, ON, and when dad got off the train, he thought he was in the middle of nowhere. Dad was a good, strong, young man but he found the work was very physical on the railway gang and very cold during that harsh Northwestern Ontario winter - so cold in fact, that the axes would jump off the poles as they were being cut down. Dad was eager to advance his skills and he soon proved to be a very capable pole climber travelling back and forth to Thunder Bay. By 1950 he was proud to be the youngest foreman ever at the age of 23. In 1952 dad became the first permanent gang foreman and his job territory encompassed Thunder Bay to the Saskatchewan border. While dad was relieving one of the linemen in Minnedosa, MB in 1953, he met Marguerite Phelps who worked as a car checker at the railway station. Mom must have been somewhat smitten by him, as she delivered his messages personally, which he thought was interesting. Dad came back to Winnipeg in 1953 and the two reconnected in the bustling telegraph office where mom had come to work. Their first official date didn't go that well, but I guess mom was really smitten and eventually they got married. Cheryl was born shortly after and they moved to Ignace, ON in 1955. Mom wasn't impressed that she was there with a new baby and no phones or doctors and dad getting calls any time of the night and day. He would have to hop on the open motor car and go out and fix problems in remote areas. On some nights while crossing frozen lakes the wolves would be stalking him and he knew he couldn't fall down. Good thing he hadn't seen the recent movie with Liam Neeson! He escaped the wolves but he did injure himself sliding down an old eastern cedar and had to walk with a 27 pound cast on his foot for over four months. While dad was eying a position in Portage la Prairie and mom was hoping it would come open, Bell Telephone came to Ignace and contracted dad to work for them in addition to the work he did for the C.P.R. One of the perks was we got a phone, which made mom a little happier. Dad would take the Bell rovers into the J stations which were located on C.P.R. land. Again wanting to advance his career, dad asked the railway if he could do this work full-time for Bell with Bell reimbursing C.P.R. for his services. Pretty soon he was busier than a one armed paper hanger (his words) and he was really enjoying the work. Once he had gained enough experience, he applied and got a job on the test board at the bell office in Thunder Bay. Mom would have preferred a move west but Thunder Bay was definitely more suitable for her and we moved in the fall of 1958. Dad was reticent about leaving the C.P.R. (after all, they had given him his career start) and the C.P.R. was sorry to see him go, but dad could fix wires in his sleep and he relished the idea of a new challenge. Bell treated dad well and even though he had to work shifts, he didn't mind midnights as he could try things out and it wasn't a big deal. Dad soon learned that he could supply music to the more remote switchboards and the operators really looked forward to it. They in turn patched it through to the OPP officers in their area, making everyone who had to work nights a little happier. So Dad! Dad travelled to Sudbury, Toronto and Montreal to take courses to broaden his experience and to see how different people operated. Eventually he moved to the position of circuit order, where he very creatively solved problems with the microwaves (and not the kind we reheat food in). Sometimes this creativity, such as re-routing calls through the States and negotiating cable pairs , caused him to get his knuckles rapped, but according to dad, to hell with protocol - we have to get service! Dad was always trying to figure out how to do things better and he loved it. In early 1968 Bell and Northern Electric worked together to upgrade all the circuits in the Bell office. While Dad found the work very interesting, he did get a little frustrated when Bell wanted him to do this on top of his regular work. Dad was a very capable man but he was only human! The Bell engineers wanted Dad to move to Montreal to work with them and dad thought he would soon get pressured to do just that. Not wanting to move further east, he answered an ad that he fortuitously saw in the post office, for a landlines officer at Transport Canada's office in Winnipeg. Mom had her bags packed before dad even sent in his application. Luckily he got the job. Dad and Bell parted favourably, although his bosses believed that dad belonged in their engineering department. Valuing friendships as he did, Dad still stayed in touch with Pete D'arcy and Dick Stevens from his Bell days. While we were living in Thunder Bay, Jennifer was born and dad now had two daughters to parent. I think he found work so much easier than that and like most dads of the time, he took a fairly hands-off approach. But he was a good dad and even though we didn't have a lot, we always had enough. We moved to Winnipeg in the summer of 1968 and dad just got right into his work with the Department of Transport. Eventually, after much hard work and perhaps just a little socializing ( bookwork had to be done at home many nights), dad became the superintendent of his department - landlines and communications - and he appreciated that his job afforded him the opportunity to travel from coast to coast of our great country. He liked the work and he liked the people he worked with and he has stayed in touch with some of them also, most notably Joan Kristoferson. He also spoke fondly of Ken, Dick, John and Carol. In the fall of 1989, Dad admitted he was getting saturated and, with talk of moving his group to Edmonton, dad was ready to take his leave from the work force after 45+ years. He officially retired in June 1990 and at first was a bit at odds with all this free time. Luckily Cheryl had just had baby number 5 and was more than happy to have dad help out with her busy family. Dad enjoyed his long walks around Island Lakes pushing baby Katie in her stroller and enjoying the fresh air. It cleared his mind and he started to see the next chapter in his life unfold. Dad started doing projects around the house he had neglected and spent an unfathomable amount of time babysitting and driving grandchildren here, there and everywhere. Everyone knew and liked Grandpa Jack! Dad was a godsend to Jen and her three children when she moved back from Windsor 10 years ago. Mom was the best Grammy to her eight grandkids but unfortunately she was not as healthy as Dad, who came from a family blessed with longevity. Dad did his best to care for mom over the years and was devoted to her until the day she died - June 24, 2008. Dad was very lonely after that, and even though we tried to keep him occupied, he wanted to find his own companionship. He reconnected with someone he had known back in the 1950s (Dody was now a widow herself) and they hit it off right away. They had many similar interests and dad loved visiting her in Dryden. In fact dad also really liked Dody's family and friends in Dryden and always told us all about them after his visits. Neither of them wanted to move though, and they seemed accepting of their not-to-long distance relationship. They had looked forward to many more years together but unfortunately it was not meant to be. Dad found out that the prostate cancer he seemed to be battling successfully for 10 years had spread to his bones. He declined chemotherapy, deciding to live out his remaining time feeling as well as he could. And he did just that - staying in his nice little home until just one week before his death in the Palliative Care Unit of the Riverview Health Centre. On November 9, 2012 the world lost a very good man! Even though he did live to see his 85th birthday last August, Dad still had lots more life he wanted to live and, just the night before he passed, he whispered, I hope I get better . It would have been nice if he could have lived just a little longer to see his first great-grandchild, Dylan Jack, born December 3 to his first grandchild. We do believe though, that he will be Dylan's guardian angel. If you have been interested enough to read this very long story about our dad and papa's life you will know that Jack Dagg did not accomplish anything in his 85 years that revolutionized the world. Simply stated he lived a good life! He loved and was loved by many. If only we could all be so fortunate! Before ending his life story I know my dad would want to thank some special people, starting with Dr Heidenreich, his family physician for many years who was almost more of a friend to dad recently, and Pauline at his office. Thanks also to the special people who took care of Dad those last 18 months including Cheryl from CancerCare, the nurses at CancerCare who gave him his energizing blood transfusions, and of course the people who donated that blood, his Palliative home care nurses, his home care cleaning lady and Theodore, the bath fellow. Thank you also to all the people who helped get dad's house projects completed this past fall. He was so happy to have his houses all fixed up. Of course, we give a huge thank you to the nurses and doctors on 3E at Riverview for their absolutely wonderful care of dad, and us, that last week. Danielle - we are glad you made the career choice you did! So many people are going to miss dad besides his daughter Cheryl MacMillan, her husband Dave, children Lauren, Michelle, Graeme, Brittany and Katie, and daughter Jennifer and her children Zachary, Jillian and Alex, and his sweetie, Dody. His two sisters, Pat and Lorraine as well as other relatives and friends, have all said they will so miss those calls from Jack. I think the lovely ladies at his bank miss dad also. If any of you would like to honour dad's memory, a donation to CancerCare Manitoba, Riverview Heath Centre or the C.N.I.B. would be much appreciated. If you are healthy and able to donate blood, that would be a wonderful gift. Everyone, please live your good life!

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Dec 29, 2012