Roy McFadden Jackson

He was born June 28, 1927, in Virden, eldest son to parents Bruce and Selina (Fontana) Jackson. He lived on a farm north of Virden in the Montgomery District where he started school, later moving to Rutledge, where he and younger brother, Bill, attended the country school there. The family moved to the Jack Ratz farm in the Margaret area in the fall of 1938. He started school in Minto until the Alcester School reopened at Christmas time. When he finished school at Alcester, he helped his dad on the farm. He farmed all his life, eventually with his son and grandson, finishing field work in his 85th year (74 years after starting).

He married Irene Cuvelier in 1952. They farmed on the Havelock Duffield farm, south half of 24-5-19 until they moved to the east half of 21-5-19 in the fall of 1954, which they rented from his mom and dad. It was on this farm that their four children were born, Bryan in 1955, Barb in 1957, Carol in 1960 and Cathy in 1966.

In 1969, Dad, with the help of family, built a new dairy barn. In 1968, they had bought the Ross Heasler farm and in 1981, Mom and Dad moved into their new house built on this farm. I stayed on the home farm where Dad continued to help until his retirement. Dad was a jack of all trades and had built every building on both farms except for 2.

Mom and Dad spent 4 winters in Texas and 2 winters house sitting in Brandon, where they played cards and loved to dance. In the summer, they drove to Brandon twice a week to shuffle. In 2009, they got an apartment in Brandon for 2 more winters and attended dances and played cards with the many friends they had met in the city.

In 2011, they left the farm and moved to an apartment in Crocus Hills Estates in Boissevain where they met more new friends. Their “Crocus Family” as Dad called them.

They decided a move was needed in 2019, so they were able to get a spot in Westview Lodge in Boissevain, where Dad remained until his passing. They celebrated their 69th Wedding Anniversary in October of 2021.

Dad is survived by his wife, Irene

Son, Bryan (Fran)

Daughter Barb (Dale) Sharp

Daughter Carol (Garry) Fleming

Daughter Cathy Wall

13 grandchildren

22 great grandchildren

Sister-in-law Rene Jackson

He was predeceased by his parents

Brother Bill (Marge)Jackson

Brother Murray (Cheryl) Jackson

Son-in-law Rick Wall

And for the grandchildren of Grandpa Jackson, you remember him as the retired farmer who worked in his garden growing different things. Earlier in his life he raised dairy cows, pigs, and kept laying hens in the loft of the barn. Feed had to carried up the stairs to the loft, pigs and cows were fed by hand and cleaning of the manure in the barn was all done by hand in those days, as it was by everyone.

He had water to haul to the cows and chickens and Grandma helped with the milking, morning and night.

Your grandpa had big strong hands and strong arms. I have seen him handle up to 1900 square hay bales in one day. That’s a lot of bales for one man to handle and to live to almost 95 years, I guess hard work doesn’t hurt you.

I mentioned that Grandpa was a jack of all trades. He built the bale elevator that those bales went up to the stack on, as well as wagons, bale racks, grain trailer and lots of things we used on the farm. Dad enjoyed horses and had one very good team and worked with several others. He was a gentle man with his animals and trained a bull to haul his manure with a stone boat.

To end, Dad we miss you, we love you, and we thank you for all you did for us.