Obituary for
Thomas Alwyn "Tom" James
Tom was born on a farm near Merville, the youngest of five children.
After the farm burned down in a forest fire, the family moved to Cranberry Lake, where Tom spent the happiest years of his childhood, free to enjoy the woods and lake, his constant canine companion, Cap, at his side.
After serving in World War II, Tom chose the government option of an education over money and acquired his journalism degree at Carleton University. From there, he wrote newspaper features throughout Canada and the U.S. His favourite posting was in El Paso, Texas, where he needed to produce one feature per day of his choosing. As much as he loved his job, he loved his future wife, Marilyn, more, and couldn't see taking her to live in El Paso. Tom worked for CBC radio in Toronto, where he wrote the national evening news. Working nights, he put himself through Osgoode Hall Law School. His reason for leaving the journalism career he loved for law was that he didn't like working nights.
Tom liked crows, dogs and reading. He appreciated beautiful scenery greatly and enjoyed O Henry Bars, strawberry shortcake and lemon meringue pie. He detested Pierre Trudeau and Brian Mulroney and couldn't stand bossy women. He hated stew and the colour brown.
Tom was a kind, modest, private man. He could sometimes be heard chuckling over something that amused him. Possessing an impressive vocabulary, he was a formidable Scrabble opponent. He was ingenious at improvising solutions and particularly clever with pulleys. Well into his seventies, Tom unquestioningly and generously shared his home and time with his grandsons, playing a huge role in their childhoods, even teaching them to ride bikes, attending their sporting events and building them a tree fort.
An organized man, Tom left detailed instructions to follow when he died. Number 6 reads "Write to the people on my Christmas card list and tell them I have gone to a better place among the stars. You could tell them I have closed one door and opened another. I will try to contact you from the Other Place but I don't believe this is possible if you are a Non Believer."
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