John Harold Haydock

He is survived by his loving wife Bev, son Andrew & daughter Robyn; his parents Mary & Harold, brother Peter, as well as numerous loving family members and friends in England and South Africa.

John was born in Ashton-u-Lyne England on October 25th 1963. The eldest son of Mary & Harold, he has a younger brother Peter. John excelled in school and at age 17 started his Machinist apprenticeship. John was very fortunate to work in a job that he loved, using his hands, and his strong mathematical knowledge. Machining is a job that requires a lot of precision

This was the perfect calling for a perfectionist.

At the age of 16, John met his future wife Bev. Three years later Bev moved to Johannesburg, South Africa to join her family and a year later at the young age of 20 John followed her.

John loved South Africa, his favourite place in the world was the Kruger National Park and they spent many happy family vacations there.

John and Bev were married January 7th 1989 in their home town of Denton England. They purchased their first home together the same year and welcomed their first child Andrew in May 1992. John was an involved father from day one; and when daughter Robyn was born in 1996 their family was complete.

Due to the political instability of South Africa at the time, John felt is would be a wise decision to move their family to a more stable country. Having always dreamt of being a lumberjack when he was younger, he chose Canada on the condition that it was the West Coast. His dream of being a lumberjack came true when the bad storms in 2016 blew over a tree into the neighbours’ front yard.

August 1998 with a wife, 2 children and no job, he took the big step and moved to Port Coquitlam, BC. Within 2 weeks, John was offered 3 jobs and chose to work for Sulzer Brothers, the same company he had worked for in South Africa. He worked for Sulzer for 10 years and joined Delta Dynamics in 2008. He made some great friends at both jobs.

John loved to be busy and renovated their family home single handedly from top to bottom; he had great mentors in his father Harold and neighbour Danny Zima. Bev will tell you that in their 29 years of marriage they only had one repairman come to their home to fix their gas stove, everything else John did himself. Two weeks before he passed away with the help of his neighbour Danny, he installed a new hot water tank. He wasn’t going to let cancer stop him from doing what he always did.

John had a great love for sport. He was a lifelong supporter of Manchester City Football Club, but would always say, “I am a football fan,” he just loved the game. In 2015 shortly after his diagnosis he was fortunate enough to see another one of his dreams fulfilled; to go to the Rugby World Cup in England. He was lucky enough to get tickets for the Quarter final, semi final and final game. He said the only thing that would have made this more memorable would have been if England beat South Africa in the final, but sadly that was not to be. He also had a love for golf and one of his greatest achievements was getting a hole in one at Leeukop Golf Course in 1994.

However, his biggest love in life was his family; family always came first for John He was Bev’s biggest cheerleader and supporter in her business. He always encouraged Andrew and Robyn to follow their dreams, no matter what; he always made it happen for his children, even if it meant working long hours to support them in dance, soccer and their college educations. He was a fantastic father and his children meant the world to him. He was so happy that he got to see them grow into the beautiful, confident adults they are today.

His memory will live on forever in the hearts of his family.

We would like to thank the staff of the BC Cancer Agency and Eagle Ridge Hospital for the amazing care and support of John during his illness.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the BC Cancer Agency.

http://www.bccancer.bc.ca/donate