We all wonder about roads not taken.
Inevitably, this exercise occurs in hindsight. Some of the choices we make along life’s journey appear clearly when we begin looking back, others emerge after some reflection.
John Kennedy grew up in Toronto and Montreal. Born in 1937, he remembers his father wearing an army uniform but not his rank or where he served during the Second World War.
He remembers his mother’s wringer washing machine and sheets frozen solid in winter, chips of ice from blocks cut from the St. Lawrence river and delivered by horse-drawn wagon. He remembers playing hockey on outdoor rinks, the summer in the country when he learned to milk a cow, and the clank of the milk cans in the wagon on the daily delivery to the train depot.
“I had no idea what day it would be; summer days were all the same to me back then. I do remember going on the milk delivery one day, and mother calling me back. It was Sunday and we were going to church.”
The foundations that support John Kennedy’s journey were established early through his family and his faith.
He was a student at St. Michael’s College School in Toronto. St. Mike’s Junior B hockey team fed players like Frank Mahovlich and Dick Duff and Dave Keon into the NHL, under the guidance of Father David Bauer, another iconic name in Canadian hockey history.
Father Bauer’s fundamentals – sportsmanship, fair play, self discipline and teamwork – could be applied equally to hockey, education and faith. During the summers, many of the boys went off to Kilcoo Camp.
John was 16 years old when he first went to Kilcoo. There in the heart of Ontario cottage country, boys were guided along the path towards becoming a complete man, defined by the way they treated others.
John Latimer, the counselor who greeted the boys on their arrival, became a lifelong friend. His influence shaped John Kennedy’s direction in life on more than one occasion.
In 1959, Latimer introduced John to Penny Linell. They married in 1961 and a lifetime of family friendship was launched. During that year, 1959, John had almost decided to go into the advertising business. Latimer suggested that he try CBC instead.
John thrived at CBC. For 36 years, from his early days on the business side and over to television drama, John worked behind the scenes with the artists and production teams that brought Canadian programming to Canadians.
Even within the CBC, the hand of destiny was at work.
In 1990, when John was head of television, arts, music and science it turned out that three of the four Kennedy children and their families would be living in Western Canada. When the role of regional director for CBC in British Columbia was offered, John and Penny did not refuse.
Out west they came to make their home on Canyon Boulevard in North Vancouver.
The unsuspecting easterners learned that while they had chosen a beautiful area, the western edge of the municipality along the Capilano River is one the rainiest areas of the local rainforest.
“I had a list when I retired in 1995. Not a bucket list, just a list of things I wanted to get done. First on the list was to remove the moss that had taken over our backyard over the years. I started the day after I retired. Penny was away. It was a long weekend. And it took me all weekend to clear the moss and all week to recover. I haven’t touched the rest of the list.”
Understandable. John is a busy man, and reaching the age of 80 does not appear to have slowed him down. In a partial list of his personal and volunteer activities in the years since he retired, family comes first, then tennis four mornings every week, ukulele practice, narrating books at UBC’s Crane Library, attending theatre and concerts, church activities (both John and Penny were lectors at Holy Trinity church on Lonsdale).
Life brings sorrow along with joy. Penny died in 2013 and John Latimer died in 2003.
The families continue to be close, thanks to the friendship forged by the two young men back in 1954.
John’s work with the 411 Seniors’ Centre in downtown Vancouver perhaps best represents his career as a volunteer.
Back in 1995, John was 57 years of age, a senior in training. He was newly retired, with a unique set of expertise and experience acquired during his 36 years with CBC. An advertisement to help with a weekly radio program hosted by the 411 caught his eye. Working with seniors was not a factor in John’s decision to make the call, it was the opportunity to contribute his experience to help others.
“I offered my services, explaining I knew a little bit about radio, and they accepted me,” he recalls. “That was the beginning.”
Over the next 15 years, John served on the society’s board. An ambassador who spoke on behalf of seniors in the community, he participated when the 411 hosted the first two provincial seniors’ gatherings, paving the way for the province’s Office of the Seniors’ Advocate.
And every week of those 15 years, John and his fellow volunteers produced the 411’s weekly radio program.
Joyce Jones, who served with John at the 411, says, “he brought all the skills from his 36 years at CBC to help the 411, and he did it all with such grace.”
John Kennedy reflects on roads taken and not taken during 80 years of living. “There has always been in me a feeling that, to use a cliche, it is more fun to give than to receive. First, I had to learn. I learned a lot at CBC. I learned something at every volunteer job I’ve done. Life taught me. I learned just by staying alive and paying attention.
“And then you pass it on. You live long enough, you absorb and learn from the experiences life brings, and they inform the way you go about your life. I hope that everything I’ve learned has been put to good use. The joy comes from giving back.”
John Kennedy, husband, father, friend, a complete man.
Laura Anderson works with and for seniors on the North Shore. Contact her at 778-279-2275 or email her at [email protected].
