Ernest John (Jack) Hills - R100811 LAC (Leading Aircraftman) Royal Canadian Air Force

Jack was born May 15, 1922, in Scarborough, Ontario. He attended local schools and completed grade 12 and French and English in grade 13 at Scarborough Collegiate institute. After graduating he worked for the Workman’s Compensation Board as a clerk. 

Shortly before he turned 20, he decided to enlist, and on April 9, 1941, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, and was made a Motorboat Crewman. Later he was remustered to Seaman, stationed on the west coast. He never got sent overseas but served in Canada for over four years and was discharged on September 20, 1945, on medical grounds. He was awarded the General Service Medal and the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal.

He stayed on the west coast after he left the RCAF and married Gene Hicks. They worked for her father in his grocery store, and had two children, David and Barb. They were so successful that they opened a second store in Burnaby. However, they divorced, and Jack moved to Ontario in 1949. 

Here he worked as the Executive Assistant to the Chief Coroner of Ontario. He married Joyce Isobel Lake on November 3, 1951. Together they raised four children, Ernest, Barry, Wendy, and Beverly. His career saw many interesting cases that made the papers. He was a witness to Canada’s last executions at the Don Jail on December 11, 1962, and helped identify the casualties of a plane crash in Brampton in 1970, Air Canada flight 621.

After he retired, he and Joyce moved to Kinmount, Ontario. He served for several years as a Councillor for Snowdon Township in Minden Hills. He also kept busy on the advisory committee on unemployment in Peterborough, with the Haliburton County Development Corporation, the Canadian Industrial Training Committee, Meals on Wheels, and St. James Anglican Church in Kinmount. He passed away suddenly from a blood clot in his heart on March 18, 1990, age 68.

We thank him for his service. 

We will remember them.