Obituary of Ronald Wilfred Alexander Jacobson
Hi all… it is with great sadness that we announce the death of our dad Ronald Wilfred Alexander Jacobson.
Ron Sr. passed away peacefully on October 11th 2023 (age 96) at The Waterford (Assisted Living Community) in Tsawwassen, BC. He was born in the family home in Richmond (#3 and Williams) on December 20th, 1926 and raised in Richmond and Steveston.
Dad was predeceased by our mom (his wife of 73 years) Amy, in 2018. He was the last member of his generation of family, outliving all of the siblings and in-laws from both sides of the family.
He was the loving father, baseball coach, curler and construction instructor to children Wilf, Darlene, Ken and Ron (Jr.), Papa Chief to 12 grandchildren and 24 greatgrandchildren.
Dad was born into a fishing family being a grandson to one of the original Finn fishermen (Mikko Hihnala) who helped settle the Finn Slough in Richmond. He left school and bought his first boat at the age of 15 with his brother Ray and was a gillnetter in the Fraser River. He was also a sheet metal man and jack of all trades. He actually built all of the homes (and cabin) that we lived in. At the age of 18, he joined the army, completed boot camp and was two weeks away from being shipped over to Europe when WWII ended. After the war he resumed fishing, married mom and became a father at the ripe age of 19. They began dating when he was 16 and mom was 17.
He became one of the “high-liner” of the West Coast fishing industry and owned/fished several boats. He was also a volunteer fire fighter in Steveston and in 1960 switched to become a full-time fire fighter and part-time fisherman. He rose through the ranks and retired in 1984 as Deputy Chief of the Richmond Fire Department and was (wow) retired for 39 years.
The family would like to thank the kind and caring staff of The Waterford where Dad and Mom moved to in 2013 from Kelowna, where they had lived for 20+ years after moving from Richmond.
A lot of you knew our Dad, so we thought you would like to know of his passing and a little bit about his valued life.
There will be no formal service. The family will have a private gathering in the near future.