“I will see you in the mountains, Daddy, and will have lots of Turtle lights with me. You are now my angel and the angel of everyone who goes into the mountains. I will love you forever,”
Taylor Jones struggled through tears to get through the words she had put to paper for her father’s memorial service, but her brother Curtis stood by her side, with one arm around her shoulders, and whispered “It’s OK, take your time.”
Taylor was speaking to hundreds gathered at Centennial Theatre Saturday afternoon for a public memorial for her father, North Shore Rescue leader Tim Jones, who died suddenly Jan. 19 on his way down from a cabin on Mount Seymour after a team event.
About 700 family, friends and colleagues filled the auditorium inside. More occupied a covered overflow area outside. In the parking lot, a large screen projected the service to community members who stood for the entire three-hour long tribute to the man many called a hero. North Shore Emergency Management Office esitmates 2,500 people watched the service on the big screen outside, and at least another 1,000 people came through the venue throughout the service and procession.
Inside the theatre, friends and colleagues of Tim Jones shared their personal experiences working with him as members of North Shore Rescue or B.C. Ambulance Service.
They described Tim as a mentor and a leader. They said he was unique, inspiring, dedicated, selfless, innovative, and a tireless advocate and fundraiser for search and rescue programs in the province. But as one speaker put it: When the day was done, Tim was a husband and a father.
“He was our guardian standing watch over all of us who wandered astray,” said his son Curtis at the service, who noted that the pain of his father’s death seemed unbearable at this time. His dad was his best friend, he said. The two also worked together as colleagues with North Shore Rescue.
Curtis recounted a story of how he and Tim were called out to a rescue on Crown Mountain on Father’s Day two years ago. The pair ended up together on a long line hundreds of feet above the ground. And as they circled the area waiting for a low cloud cover to clear, Curtis patted his father on the shoulder and said, “Happy Father’s Day.”
When the cloud cleared, the two long-lined in and rescued the injured hiker.
“I’ll never forget the pride I saw in his eyes,” said Curtis of when he and his father were dangling together on the line. He was proud of the work they did together.
Although Curtis was visibly upset as he spoke about his father, he finished with a strong message: “Dad, when the pager goes we’ll be there.”
His words were met with applause from those inside and outside the theatre.
The bright sun that held its place all afternoon in the clear sky seemed out of place with the sombre event. The day began with an 800-strong honour guard procession that wound up Lonsdale Avenue from the J.P. Fell Armoury on Forbes Avenue and ended at Norseman Park. The procession included an ambulance shrouded in black cloth and carrying the cremated remains of Tim Jones. Members of B.C. Ambulance Service and North Shore Rescue, as well as local and visiting law enforcement, firefighters and other search and rescue teams followed the ambulance.
When they reached Centennial Theatre, the cremated remains was carried inside, escorted by a small detail of uniformed members of B.C. Ambulance Service and North Shore Rescue. They were placed at the centre of a long table on the stage, and flanked on either side by a framed photo of Tim and two of the many hats he wore, including a rescue helmet. The ceremony inside began with the sounds of a single bagpipe playing Auld Lang Syne.
B.C. Ambulance Service chaplain John Lowe, who presided over the memorial, led with a prayer, and many in the audience outside bowed their heads as he spoke.
North Vancouver MP Andrew Saxton followed as the first speaker.
“I don’t think our community has seen the likes of this ever before,” he said of the service.
He talked about working with Tim on many projects over the years, and noted: “I have never met such a hardworking and dedicated volunteer.”
Tim was inspiring in his efforts for search and rescue and could be very persuasive when he had to be, noted Saxton. “When Tim said ‘Jump’ you said, ‘How high?’”
Saxton also read a condolence letter from Prime Minister Stephen Harper. In his own words, however, he thanked Tim’s family for sharing him with everyone and said: “He was and remains our hero.”
Condolences from Premier Christy Clark were shared by Suzanne Anton, minister of justice and attorney general of B.C.
But it was the emotional speeches from Tim’s friends and colleagues that helped paint a picture of the man he was.
Longtime friend and fellow B.C. Ambulance paramedic Ross Hallaway delivered the main eulogy. He called Tim “opinionated” but “so very compassionate.”
Hallaway recounted the first time he met Tim, in 1962, when he was five years old and Tim was six. The first time he saw the “red-haired, freckled-face” Tim, he was engaged in a rock fight with two other kids.
“Tim ducked and I got nailed,” said Hallaway and the audience laughed. He added that in typical Tim fashion, his new friend walked him home to get him help.
He talked about how Tim and his brother loved to explore the outdoors and how the whole family would go camping every summer. He told how Tim met his wife Lindsay in 1981 and married her two years later. He said Tim was a precious commodity for the community but even more precious to his family.
“Tim, your work here is now done, and all will agree it’s done exceptionally well,” he said.
North Shore Rescue teammate and close friend Mike Danks said Tim’s passing stunned him and left a huge void in his world. “He was my best friend and relentless drill sergeant rolled into one.”
He said Tim’s was a life lived with passion, integrity and purpose.
Tim’s radio call sign with North Shore Rescue was “North Shore 5-4.” That number has now been retired in his honour, explained Danks, and pointed to a banner displaying those numbers hanging from the theatre ceiling above the stage.
North Shore Rescue team member George Zalahi shared stories of Tim’s history with the team. His voice was full of emotion when he addressed Tim’s family at the service, and later when he said to his departed friend: “Thank you for the experience and the journey we had together. It sure as hell was worth it.”
The audience outside applauded at the end of his speech, as they did for many of the speakers, including City of North Vancouver Mayor Darrell Mussatto who told the gathered guests: “I still can’t believe that he’s not with us.”
Mussatto called Tim his mentor and said he inspired him to become a teacher and a paramedic just as Tim had done. Many of the speakers talked about Tim’s passion for his work and his special ability to make things happen.
“Has anybody here ever said no to Tim Jones?” asked Mussatto. “I wonder how that went if you did.”
The audience laughed at this and anecdotes that showed Tim’s funnier side recounted by Mussatto and many of the other speakers.
North Shore Rescue spokesman Doug Pope said the team always knew Tim had their back. He led by example and showed confidence in tense situations. Pope noted that one of the things Tim taught the team was that there was “no such thing as having too many helicopters at a rescue.”
His comment was met with laughter, and he added that they all learned something today that would make Tim smile: “There’s no such thing as too many helicopters at a memorial either.”
Pope was referring to two Talon helicopters and one RCMP helicopter that had landed in Norseman Park before the service and waited to escort Tim’s ashes away at the end.
When the eulogies were finished, a video montage featured photos of Tim over the years at work and with his family. Bagpipe players on stage performed Amazing Grace, followed by horn renditions of Taps and The Last Post.
In his closing remarks, Lowe said simply, “Thank you, Tim Jones. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
He ended by telling the audience: “Yes, dear ones; this world is a better place because of Tim Jones.”
There was audible crying in the theatre and many tears outside among the public as a recording of Tim Jones was played in the theatre.It began with Tim’s voice saying “North Shore 5-4,” which was Tim’s radio call sign, and ended with a dispatcher saying: “Good job. Goodnight.”
The cremated remains were taken back outside to the waiting ambulance that had carried them to the theatre. All those in uniform who had walked in the procession lined the perimeter of Norseman Park as the ambulance drove away from the theatre, along 23rd Street, turned left onto St. Georges Avenue and made its way back into the park. Two rows of North Shore Rescue members stood on either side of a path that led to one of the Talon helicopters. Tim’s remains were taken onto the helicopter for his final flight.
As the helicopter lifted from the ground, the large crowd of community members still gathered in the parking lot erupted into applause. One voice could be heard shouting above the noise of the rotor: “Thank you, Tim!”
After the other two helicopters lifted off, the one carrying Tim's ashes looped back over the parking lot, where those assembled gave a final wave, and the helicopter continued eastward towards Mount Seymour.
As it flew high above and out of sight, the bright sun seeming to envelop it, the words of North Shore Rescue teammate Miles Randal, spoken during the service about his colleague and friend, seemed especially poignant: “There’s someone missing in heaven and God needed his help.”
Donations for the North Shore Rescue legacy fund can be made in Tim's honour at: northshorerescue.com.
See more photos below.
