Family Card - Person Sheet
Family Card - Person Sheet
NameJohn Keelinge HOMER, 2C2R
Birth22 Dec 1911, South Shields, Durham, England
Death21 Jan 2011
OccupationFisherman
FatherPaul Aitken HOMER (1869-1963)
MotherEmily NICHOLSON (1872-1953)
Spouses
Birth11 Jul 1907, Ringwood, Hampshire
Death23 Feb 1996, Sooke, B.C.
BurialSt. Mary the Virgin Churchyard Cemetery, Metchosin, BC
FatherFrank Oakes DIXON (1882-)
MotherMadeline M. (~1878-1959)
Marriage28 Oct 1933
Children(Private)
(Private)
Notes for John Keelinge HOMER
In the January to March 1912 birth index, John K. Homer, South Shields district, mother’s maiden name Nicholson, volume 10a page 1700.
In the 1921 Canadian census
Metchosin, British Columbia
Head Paul Homer, age 45[should be 50], year of immigration 1903, born England, parents born England, farmer.
Wife Emma Homer, age 40 [should be 49], born England, parents born England.
Son Paul Homer, age 12, born Manitoba, student.
Son John Homer, age 9, born England.
Daughter Joan Homer, age 6, born British Columbia.
In the passenger lists arrived March 17, 1928 in Halifax Nova Scotia aboard the Celtic departed Liverpool, John Keelinge Homer, son, age 18, born England, South Shields, formerly in Victoria B.C. It is difficult to read but it seems he was previously in Canada from 1912 to 1927?
1931 Canada Census British Columbia, Nanaimo district, unorganized territory No. 44
Albert Head, Vancouver Island, British Columbia
Owned their home, value $3000, single floor, wood, 7 rooms, owned a radio
Head Paul Homer, age 61, born England, parents born England, immigrated 1890, nationality Canada, racial origin English, master mariner, own account
Wife Emily Homer, age 55, born England, parents born England, immigrated 1906, home maker
Son Frederick Homer, single, age 23, born Manitoba, speaks both English and French, sailor, towing
Son John Homer, single, age 19, born England, immigrated 1912, gas engineer, towing
Daughter Joan Homer, age 17, born British Columbia, house keeper at home
British Columbia Marriage Index
John Keelinge Homer and Madeline Dixon, October 28, 1933, Metchosin.
In the Seattle Passenger and Crew Lists on April 11, 1944 the Fisher Boy No. 2 arrived. The master was Frederick P. Homer age 36 shipped or engaged April 8, 1944 Victoria, BC. He had 20 years service at sea.was 5 feet 9.5 inches tall and weighed 163 lbs. The only other passenger was John K. Homer age 32. He was the Engineer with 15 years experience. he was 6 feet tall and weighed 170 lbs.
Canada Voters Lists 1957
Sooke, British Columbia
Mrs. Meneen M. Homer
John Keelinge Homer, fisherman
Canada Voters Lists 1974
Sooke, British Columbia
John Twigg Homer, fisherman
Mrs. Meneen M. Homer, homemaker
John Keelinge Homer, fisherman
David K. Homer, fisherman
Mrs. Patricia Homer
Findagrave.com
John Keelinge “Jack” Homer
Birth 1911
South Shields, Metropolitan Borough of South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England
Death 21 Jan 2011 (aged 99–100)
Sooke, Capital Regional District, British Columbia, Canada
Burial Saint Mary's Cemetery
Metchosin, Capital Regional District, British Columbia, Canada
Memorial ID 245851385
Interment with family is presumed.
Father- Paul Aitken Homer born in Sedgley, Staffordshire, England
Mother- Emily Nicholson born in South Shields, England
Event Type:Death
Registration Number:1953-09-001304
BC Archives Mfilm Number:B13214
GSU Mfilm Number:2032863
Event Date (YYYY-MM-DD):1953-01-13
Event Place:VICTORIA
Age at Death:80
Person:EMILY HOMER
Wife- Meneen Madeline Dixon married Oct 28, 1933 in St Mary's Church, Metchosin, BC
From The Sooke Story - The History and the Heartbeat" p, 292
One of the fisherman now well into his eighties, still out on the water after a lifetime at sea is Jack Homer.
Growing up at Albert Head, British born Homer remembers the drama in 1929 when the linter "Empress of Canada" ran aground almost infront of his home. He had his own putter boat at age ten, and never looked back. He built "Fisher Boy" a 40 ft. troller, recalling: "I went to Bull Harbour in 1932 with only 50c in my pocket. To my immense relief, came back with 21 spring salmon, all over 20lbs. Took them to Old Man Nicholson's at Hardy Bay and got 5c a pound for them. I was rich! I was alone up at Cape Scott one time, had a tremendous trip of fish. 420 Cohoes in one day. By the time I was through dressing and icing them, I was in bad shape.... went into Rivers
Inlet canner. In the 1940's, salmon and halibut were the two top for income. ON the outside of the Queen Charlottes, the main catch was tuna. The farthest out I got was 125 miles from shore."
Jack Homer has owned a series of boats, one of them being the Roche Cove", (left - Photographer: Liz Johnson) which he recently sold to another enterprising fisherman, John Coolman
From "Fishing History" by Elida Peers - Rural Observer April 2008
The ocean has been his home, his livelihood and his recreation. Many men of our region have been fishermen all their lives, but it would be hard to find any who have spent more years on the water, or know more about fishing, than Jack Homer.
While his body may be growing frail now that he is in his 97th year, Jack’s recollections are as vivid as ever. His journey upon the oceans began as a babe in arms, sailing from Britain to Canada onboard a Cunard liner. His British mother, an immigrant to Canada, had sailed back to England to be with her mother for the birth of her baby and was about to return to rejoin her husband in Canada. Jack’s charmed life of good luck on the seas was first demonstrated when his mother delayed her return trip, cashing in the ticket she held for the Titanic’s maiden voyage and booking on the next Cunard liner due to sail a month later.
Jack grew up on a small farm at Albert Head, and at the age of ten had his first “putter” boat, all 14 feet of it. Because of his family’s British maritime background, at age 15 he was sent to spend six months in the old country, where he took training on the Royal Navy’s square-rigger HMS Conway, moored at Liverpool. Back in Canada, he witnessed the drama of the liner Empress of Canada aground almost in front of the family home.
It was 1930 just after the Great Depression struck, that Jack set out fishing with his older brother Fred in a fishing boat bought from his dad. Next he built the first of a succession of trollers, the 40-foot Fisher Boy. Times were tough and prices low, but by dint of long hours, and a dauntless spirit, Jack wrested a living from the water. He recalls going into Bull Harbour in 1932, with fifty gallons of fuel in his tank and 50 cents in his pocket, and knowing that he must find fish or go hungry. Find fish he did, coming back with 21 spring salmon, all over twenty pounds, which he sold for 5 cents a pound.
When he was 21 Jack married Meneen Dixon, a woman who understood that to share her life with this man, she would also be sharing him with the sea. The young couple rented a small cottage on Portage Inlet. They got off to a rough start when Jack was fishing in north island waters at Johnston Strait and received a telegram from his dad telling him Meneen was in hospital with a miscarriage. He set off for Victoria full speed non-stop, and soon was at his wife’s side.
Jack’s fishing grounds ranged from the Queen Charlottes and from the rough waters off Cape Scott, near Triangle Island, to almost as far south as San Francisco. While he fished predominately for Spring, Coho or Sockeye salmon, he also caught tuna, halibut and ling cod. Most of his catch was bought by fish buyers such as BC Packers or Canadian Fish. He described salmon canneries at Namu, Walker Bay and Rivers Inlet, and a fish buying plant at Bamfield. He recalled two spots he was prone to catch tuna, 30 miles out from Ucluelet and off the Queen Charlottes.
The tuna that he caught averaged about ten pounds, and was frozen whole and shipped to Japan. While the halibut he caught would average 30 to 50 lbs, his largest weighed in at 210 lbs. Ling cod, which ranged from 5 to 30 lbs, was not canned but sold fresh.
Open to all opportunities, he recalled an occasion off Estevan Point with a different type of catch “we jigged up quite a lot of red snapper and ling cod and took them in to Vancouver.”
In the lexicon of the old time fishermen, the Triangle Island waters were called “the steamer ground” from the fact that steam-powered halibut boats had been used in that area. Jack recalled that typically, Spring salmon were caught off Cape Beale, Cape Scott, Cape Cook and the steamer ground. He commented that one year he might find a good run of Coho at Coal Harbour, another year there could be none.
Sometimes Jack worked with a deck hand, or if he could not find crew that he would regard as a good deck hand, he preferred to work alone. Jack’s standards were exacting, and he recalled the long hours spent in season. During the 1940s and 50s when salmon were abundant, he could catch as many as 420 Coho in a day, dressing and icing them himself, but would end up exhausted from the effort. Between the late 1940s through the 1960s Jack trolled with the 46 ft Nip N Tuck.
He described how a catch handled carefully would remain fresh longer, and bring a better dollar when selling a shipment to the fish buyers. Carefully and gently handling the fish when bringing them onto the deck and placing them into the fish box, retaining as much of their protective scales as possible meant that the flesh of the fish was protected from the air and retained its quality. Another trick he learned up the west coast from an old Norwegian fisherman was to cover a catch with brown kelp to keep it fresh.
Later, living in a substantial waterfront home in Sooke where they moved in 1942, Jack and Meneen raised two sons, John and David. The bounty of the sea provided a good life for the Homers, while the fish he caught over the years fed hundreds of thousands of families around the world. The product of his commercial catch over almost five decades was shipped across the breadth of North America, the British Isles, Europe and the Orient.
Jack thinks that overfishing has affected the fish stocks of today. He expresses an opinion that the DFO should not allow any salmon fishing until enough salmon have reached their home rivers to spawn. He thinks that net fishing has done great damage, and that nets should be pulled out of the water. He thinks that draggers should not be allowed to drag on the bottom, but only be allowed to drag at mid-water.
By the late 1970s Jack had re-structured his fishing style from the arduous routines and long hours of commercial fishing, to operating a charter boat business in the burgeoning local sports fishing industry. The two boats he operated with his son David were the Roche Cove and the Secretary Isle.
After his wife passed away, Jack sold his waterfront home and now lives in a bungalow near Whiffin Spit. His enormous knowledge of the sea, amassed through eight decades of experience, means that he is still sought after to share his wealth of maritime and fishing history.
Asked which fish he considered the greatest delicacy, Jack responded: “I like all fish, except dogfish, but my choices would be smoked white Spring salmon, and then fresh Sockeye, either in steaks or stuffed and baked in the oven.”
Fellow mariner Doug MacFarlane comments: “Jack has been one heck of a hard-working man and a person you could always rely on. I remember once when I was a teenager watching him at Bull Harbour, and I’ve come to believe that if Jack Homer couldn’t catch fish, nobody could.”
end of article
Obituary from remembering.ca
Jack K. Homer HOMER, Jack K. Long time resident of Sooke Died Friday, January 21st, 2011 at 99 years of age. He is survived by 2 sons, John and David, and grandson Paul, and their families. Service and Reception to be held at Sand's Funeral Home, 317 Goldstream Ave, Colwood on February 9th 2011 at 1:00pm.
Obituary - Sooke News Mirror
The sea was his life: Jack Homer 1911-2011
For almost 100 years, Jack Homer and the sea were inseparable.
His British immigrant parents had come out and settled at Albert Head, but when Emily Homer was expecting, she sailed back to England to be with her mother, and Jack was born a Brit.
Though her return ticket had been booked with the Cunard line on the Titanic’s doomed maiden voyage, the young mother decided to stay another month, cashed the ticket in, and later sailed back to Canada on the Carthagenia in May of 1912. It was the first signal of the charmed life that Jack would live on the sea.
The ocean was his home, his livelihood and his recreation. Jack grew up at Albert Head on a small farm with sister Joan (later Mrs. Milwarde-Yates) and older brother Fred Homer, where the youngsters each had their own putter boats, handy at the shoreline. One of Jack’s vivid memories was of getting out of bed in October 1929, to a startling sight. Shrouded in the early morning fog, the Empress of Canada was aground at their doorstep, panicking the farm’s cows.
He got his first10-ft putter boat at age 10, and went on to a series of fishing vessels over the next three-quarters of a century. The Homers are a family with British maritime traditions, so Jack was sent back to the old country in his teens to take training at the Portsmouth Naval Academy, training on HMS Conway, a brigantine on the Mersey River.
Just after the Great Depression struck, Jack and brother Fred bought a fishing boat from their dad, and set out in 1930 to make their own way. His next investment was a 40-ft troller he called Fisher Boy, which had cost $1,200 to build. Fish prices were low, but by dint of long hours and a dauntless spirit, Jack managed to wrest a living from the sea. Fisher Boy was followed by Fisher Boy II and III.
He recalled a time in 1932 when he went in to Bull Harbour, the fuel in his tank down to 50 gallons, and his pocket boasting only 50 cents. He knew he must find fish or starve – and find fish he did! He came back with 21 spring salmon, each over 20 pounds, and got 5 cents a pound for them.
The woman who married Jack would need to understand that to share her life with this man, she would also be sharing him with the sea. At 21, he married Meneen Dixon, also of British background, and the couple rented a small cottage at Portage Inlet.
Jack’s fishing grounds ranged from the Queen Charlottes and from the rough waters off Cape Scott, to Triangle Island, to almost as far south as San Francisco. He recalled catching tuna 30 miles out from Ucluelet, and off the Queen Charlottes. While he fished predominately for spring, coho or sockeye salmon, he also caught tuna, halibut and ling cod. Most of his catch was bought by fish buyers such as BC Packers or Canadian Fishing Company. He described salmon canneries at Rivers Inlet, Namu and Walker Bay, and a fish buying plant at Bamfield.
By 1942 Jack’s hard work and the bounty of the sea had provided sufficient income to purchase a lovely, substantial waterfront home in Sooke, where he and Meneen raised their two sons, John and David. A gentle British lady, Meneen kept the home fires burning steadfastly for Jack.
Jack’s standards were exacting; he tried to handle the fish gently and cover them with brown kelp to keep them fresh and bring a top dollar from the fishbuyer. During the 1940s and 50s when salmon were abundant, he once caught 420 coho in a single day, dressing and icing them himself. While typically the halibut he caught averaged 30 to 50 pounds, his largest weighed in at 210 pounds.
Fellow mariner Doug MacFarlane describes Jack Homer as remarkable in his skill as a seaman. He recalls that Jack told him of a trip down the coast from the North Island where Jack was exhausted from many hours without rest but needed to bring his catch down to market as quickly as possible. Jack’s solution was to stand outside the wheelhouse in the cold, to keep himself awake, and reach inside to steer the vessel. One of the first on the coast to install radar, Jack got frequent calls from fellow fishermen to locate a fix.
The Nip N Tuck was Jack’s next purchase, and was used for log salvage along the coast in addition to fishing. By the late 1970s Jack had re-structured his fishing style from the arduous routines and long hours of commercial fishing. Besides log salvaging he also assisted Doug MacFarlane with the big log booms being towed up to the mill in Sooke basin. He began operating a charter boat business in the burgeoning local sports fishing industry; the two boats he operated with his son David were the 40- ft Roche Cove and the 44-ft Secretary Isle.
Phoebe Dunbar points out how generous Jack was with the maritime events of Sooke Festival Society, and the annual longboat challenges. A little piece of the history of Edward Milne Community School belongs to Jack, as it was he and the Secretary Isle that carried the newly-flensed whale skeleton to the deepest part of Sooke Basin in 1989, dropping it submerged in a cage for the crabs to clean up. When the crabs’ work was done, it was raised again, and today the re-assembled whale proudly graces the commons of EMCS.
Jack continued running the Secretary Isle for charter fishing even up to the age of 90. As his wife grew frail and lost her eyesight, Jack cared for her solicitously. After she passed away in 1996 he sold his waterfront home and moved to a cottage in the Whiffin Spit area.
In the 1921 Canadian census
Metchosin, British Columbia
Head Paul Homer, age 45[should be 50], year of immigration 1903, born England, parents born England, farmer.
Wife Emma Homer, age 40 [should be 49], born England, parents born England.
Son Paul Homer, age 12, born Manitoba, student.
Son John Homer, age 9, born England.
Daughter Joan Homer, age 6, born British Columbia.
In the passenger lists arrived March 17, 1928 in Halifax Nova Scotia aboard the Celtic departed Liverpool, John Keelinge Homer, son, age 18, born England, South Shields, formerly in Victoria B.C. It is difficult to read but it seems he was previously in Canada from 1912 to 1927?
1931 Canada Census British Columbia, Nanaimo district, unorganized territory No. 44
Albert Head, Vancouver Island, British Columbia
Owned their home, value $3000, single floor, wood, 7 rooms, owned a radio
Head Paul Homer, age 61, born England, parents born England, immigrated 1890, nationality Canada, racial origin English, master mariner, own account
Wife Emily Homer, age 55, born England, parents born England, immigrated 1906, home maker
Son Frederick Homer, single, age 23, born Manitoba, speaks both English and French, sailor, towing
Son John Homer, single, age 19, born England, immigrated 1912, gas engineer, towing
Daughter Joan Homer, age 17, born British Columbia, house keeper at home
British Columbia Marriage Index
John Keelinge Homer and Madeline Dixon, October 28, 1933, Metchosin.
In the Seattle Passenger and Crew Lists on April 11, 1944 the Fisher Boy No. 2 arrived. The master was Frederick P. Homer age 36 shipped or engaged April 8, 1944 Victoria, BC. He had 20 years service at sea.was 5 feet 9.5 inches tall and weighed 163 lbs. The only other passenger was John K. Homer age 32. He was the Engineer with 15 years experience. he was 6 feet tall and weighed 170 lbs.
Canada Voters Lists 1957
Sooke, British Columbia
Mrs. Meneen M. Homer
John Keelinge Homer, fisherman
Canada Voters Lists 1974
Sooke, British Columbia
John Twigg Homer, fisherman
Mrs. Meneen M. Homer, homemaker
John Keelinge Homer, fisherman
David K. Homer, fisherman
Mrs. Patricia Homer
Findagrave.com
John Keelinge “Jack” Homer
Birth 1911
South Shields, Metropolitan Borough of South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England
Death 21 Jan 2011 (aged 99–100)
Sooke, Capital Regional District, British Columbia, Canada
Burial Saint Mary's Cemetery
Metchosin, Capital Regional District, British Columbia, Canada
Memorial ID 245851385
Interment with family is presumed.
Father- Paul Aitken Homer born in Sedgley, Staffordshire, England
Mother- Emily Nicholson born in South Shields, England
Event Type:Death
Registration Number:1953-09-001304
BC Archives Mfilm Number:B13214
GSU Mfilm Number:2032863
Event Date (YYYY-MM-DD):1953-01-13
Event Place:VICTORIA
Age at Death:80
Person:EMILY HOMER
Wife- Meneen Madeline Dixon married Oct 28, 1933 in St Mary's Church, Metchosin, BC
From The Sooke Story - The History and the Heartbeat" p, 292
One of the fisherman now well into his eighties, still out on the water after a lifetime at sea is Jack Homer.
Growing up at Albert Head, British born Homer remembers the drama in 1929 when the linter "Empress of Canada" ran aground almost infront of his home. He had his own putter boat at age ten, and never looked back. He built "Fisher Boy" a 40 ft. troller, recalling: "I went to Bull Harbour in 1932 with only 50c in my pocket. To my immense relief, came back with 21 spring salmon, all over 20lbs. Took them to Old Man Nicholson's at Hardy Bay and got 5c a pound for them. I was rich! I was alone up at Cape Scott one time, had a tremendous trip of fish. 420 Cohoes in one day. By the time I was through dressing and icing them, I was in bad shape.... went into Rivers
Inlet canner. In the 1940's, salmon and halibut were the two top for income. ON the outside of the Queen Charlottes, the main catch was tuna. The farthest out I got was 125 miles from shore."
Jack Homer has owned a series of boats, one of them being the Roche Cove", (left - Photographer: Liz Johnson) which he recently sold to another enterprising fisherman, John Coolman
From "Fishing History" by Elida Peers - Rural Observer April 2008
The ocean has been his home, his livelihood and his recreation. Many men of our region have been fishermen all their lives, but it would be hard to find any who have spent more years on the water, or know more about fishing, than Jack Homer.
While his body may be growing frail now that he is in his 97th year, Jack’s recollections are as vivid as ever. His journey upon the oceans began as a babe in arms, sailing from Britain to Canada onboard a Cunard liner. His British mother, an immigrant to Canada, had sailed back to England to be with her mother for the birth of her baby and was about to return to rejoin her husband in Canada. Jack’s charmed life of good luck on the seas was first demonstrated when his mother delayed her return trip, cashing in the ticket she held for the Titanic’s maiden voyage and booking on the next Cunard liner due to sail a month later.
Jack grew up on a small farm at Albert Head, and at the age of ten had his first “putter” boat, all 14 feet of it. Because of his family’s British maritime background, at age 15 he was sent to spend six months in the old country, where he took training on the Royal Navy’s square-rigger HMS Conway, moored at Liverpool. Back in Canada, he witnessed the drama of the liner Empress of Canada aground almost in front of the family home.
It was 1930 just after the Great Depression struck, that Jack set out fishing with his older brother Fred in a fishing boat bought from his dad. Next he built the first of a succession of trollers, the 40-foot Fisher Boy. Times were tough and prices low, but by dint of long hours, and a dauntless spirit, Jack wrested a living from the water. He recalls going into Bull Harbour in 1932, with fifty gallons of fuel in his tank and 50 cents in his pocket, and knowing that he must find fish or go hungry. Find fish he did, coming back with 21 spring salmon, all over twenty pounds, which he sold for 5 cents a pound.
When he was 21 Jack married Meneen Dixon, a woman who understood that to share her life with this man, she would also be sharing him with the sea. The young couple rented a small cottage on Portage Inlet. They got off to a rough start when Jack was fishing in north island waters at Johnston Strait and received a telegram from his dad telling him Meneen was in hospital with a miscarriage. He set off for Victoria full speed non-stop, and soon was at his wife’s side.
Jack’s fishing grounds ranged from the Queen Charlottes and from the rough waters off Cape Scott, near Triangle Island, to almost as far south as San Francisco. While he fished predominately for Spring, Coho or Sockeye salmon, he also caught tuna, halibut and ling cod. Most of his catch was bought by fish buyers such as BC Packers or Canadian Fish. He described salmon canneries at Namu, Walker Bay and Rivers Inlet, and a fish buying plant at Bamfield. He recalled two spots he was prone to catch tuna, 30 miles out from Ucluelet and off the Queen Charlottes.
The tuna that he caught averaged about ten pounds, and was frozen whole and shipped to Japan. While the halibut he caught would average 30 to 50 lbs, his largest weighed in at 210 lbs. Ling cod, which ranged from 5 to 30 lbs, was not canned but sold fresh.
Open to all opportunities, he recalled an occasion off Estevan Point with a different type of catch “we jigged up quite a lot of red snapper and ling cod and took them in to Vancouver.”
In the lexicon of the old time fishermen, the Triangle Island waters were called “the steamer ground” from the fact that steam-powered halibut boats had been used in that area. Jack recalled that typically, Spring salmon were caught off Cape Beale, Cape Scott, Cape Cook and the steamer ground. He commented that one year he might find a good run of Coho at Coal Harbour, another year there could be none.
Sometimes Jack worked with a deck hand, or if he could not find crew that he would regard as a good deck hand, he preferred to work alone. Jack’s standards were exacting, and he recalled the long hours spent in season. During the 1940s and 50s when salmon were abundant, he could catch as many as 420 Coho in a day, dressing and icing them himself, but would end up exhausted from the effort. Between the late 1940s through the 1960s Jack trolled with the 46 ft Nip N Tuck.
He described how a catch handled carefully would remain fresh longer, and bring a better dollar when selling a shipment to the fish buyers. Carefully and gently handling the fish when bringing them onto the deck and placing them into the fish box, retaining as much of their protective scales as possible meant that the flesh of the fish was protected from the air and retained its quality. Another trick he learned up the west coast from an old Norwegian fisherman was to cover a catch with brown kelp to keep it fresh.
Later, living in a substantial waterfront home in Sooke where they moved in 1942, Jack and Meneen raised two sons, John and David. The bounty of the sea provided a good life for the Homers, while the fish he caught over the years fed hundreds of thousands of families around the world. The product of his commercial catch over almost five decades was shipped across the breadth of North America, the British Isles, Europe and the Orient.
Jack thinks that overfishing has affected the fish stocks of today. He expresses an opinion that the DFO should not allow any salmon fishing until enough salmon have reached their home rivers to spawn. He thinks that net fishing has done great damage, and that nets should be pulled out of the water. He thinks that draggers should not be allowed to drag on the bottom, but only be allowed to drag at mid-water.
By the late 1970s Jack had re-structured his fishing style from the arduous routines and long hours of commercial fishing, to operating a charter boat business in the burgeoning local sports fishing industry. The two boats he operated with his son David were the Roche Cove and the Secretary Isle.
After his wife passed away, Jack sold his waterfront home and now lives in a bungalow near Whiffin Spit. His enormous knowledge of the sea, amassed through eight decades of experience, means that he is still sought after to share his wealth of maritime and fishing history.
Asked which fish he considered the greatest delicacy, Jack responded: “I like all fish, except dogfish, but my choices would be smoked white Spring salmon, and then fresh Sockeye, either in steaks or stuffed and baked in the oven.”
Fellow mariner Doug MacFarlane comments: “Jack has been one heck of a hard-working man and a person you could always rely on. I remember once when I was a teenager watching him at Bull Harbour, and I’ve come to believe that if Jack Homer couldn’t catch fish, nobody could.”
end of article
Obituary from remembering.ca
Jack K. Homer HOMER, Jack K. Long time resident of Sooke Died Friday, January 21st, 2011 at 99 years of age. He is survived by 2 sons, John and David, and grandson Paul, and their families. Service and Reception to be held at Sand's Funeral Home, 317 Goldstream Ave, Colwood on February 9th 2011 at 1:00pm.
Obituary - Sooke News Mirror
The sea was his life: Jack Homer 1911-2011
For almost 100 years, Jack Homer and the sea were inseparable.
His British immigrant parents had come out and settled at Albert Head, but when Emily Homer was expecting, she sailed back to England to be with her mother, and Jack was born a Brit.
Though her return ticket had been booked with the Cunard line on the Titanic’s doomed maiden voyage, the young mother decided to stay another month, cashed the ticket in, and later sailed back to Canada on the Carthagenia in May of 1912. It was the first signal of the charmed life that Jack would live on the sea.
The ocean was his home, his livelihood and his recreation. Jack grew up at Albert Head on a small farm with sister Joan (later Mrs. Milwarde-Yates) and older brother Fred Homer, where the youngsters each had their own putter boats, handy at the shoreline. One of Jack’s vivid memories was of getting out of bed in October 1929, to a startling sight. Shrouded in the early morning fog, the Empress of Canada was aground at their doorstep, panicking the farm’s cows.
He got his first10-ft putter boat at age 10, and went on to a series of fishing vessels over the next three-quarters of a century. The Homers are a family with British maritime traditions, so Jack was sent back to the old country in his teens to take training at the Portsmouth Naval Academy, training on HMS Conway, a brigantine on the Mersey River.
Just after the Great Depression struck, Jack and brother Fred bought a fishing boat from their dad, and set out in 1930 to make their own way. His next investment was a 40-ft troller he called Fisher Boy, which had cost $1,200 to build. Fish prices were low, but by dint of long hours and a dauntless spirit, Jack managed to wrest a living from the sea. Fisher Boy was followed by Fisher Boy II and III.
He recalled a time in 1932 when he went in to Bull Harbour, the fuel in his tank down to 50 gallons, and his pocket boasting only 50 cents. He knew he must find fish or starve – and find fish he did! He came back with 21 spring salmon, each over 20 pounds, and got 5 cents a pound for them.
The woman who married Jack would need to understand that to share her life with this man, she would also be sharing him with the sea. At 21, he married Meneen Dixon, also of British background, and the couple rented a small cottage at Portage Inlet.
Jack’s fishing grounds ranged from the Queen Charlottes and from the rough waters off Cape Scott, to Triangle Island, to almost as far south as San Francisco. He recalled catching tuna 30 miles out from Ucluelet, and off the Queen Charlottes. While he fished predominately for spring, coho or sockeye salmon, he also caught tuna, halibut and ling cod. Most of his catch was bought by fish buyers such as BC Packers or Canadian Fishing Company. He described salmon canneries at Rivers Inlet, Namu and Walker Bay, and a fish buying plant at Bamfield.
By 1942 Jack’s hard work and the bounty of the sea had provided sufficient income to purchase a lovely, substantial waterfront home in Sooke, where he and Meneen raised their two sons, John and David. A gentle British lady, Meneen kept the home fires burning steadfastly for Jack.
Jack’s standards were exacting; he tried to handle the fish gently and cover them with brown kelp to keep them fresh and bring a top dollar from the fishbuyer. During the 1940s and 50s when salmon were abundant, he once caught 420 coho in a single day, dressing and icing them himself. While typically the halibut he caught averaged 30 to 50 pounds, his largest weighed in at 210 pounds.
Fellow mariner Doug MacFarlane describes Jack Homer as remarkable in his skill as a seaman. He recalls that Jack told him of a trip down the coast from the North Island where Jack was exhausted from many hours without rest but needed to bring his catch down to market as quickly as possible. Jack’s solution was to stand outside the wheelhouse in the cold, to keep himself awake, and reach inside to steer the vessel. One of the first on the coast to install radar, Jack got frequent calls from fellow fishermen to locate a fix.
The Nip N Tuck was Jack’s next purchase, and was used for log salvage along the coast in addition to fishing. By the late 1970s Jack had re-structured his fishing style from the arduous routines and long hours of commercial fishing. Besides log salvaging he also assisted Doug MacFarlane with the big log booms being towed up to the mill in Sooke basin. He began operating a charter boat business in the burgeoning local sports fishing industry; the two boats he operated with his son David were the 40- ft Roche Cove and the 44-ft Secretary Isle.
Phoebe Dunbar points out how generous Jack was with the maritime events of Sooke Festival Society, and the annual longboat challenges. A little piece of the history of Edward Milne Community School belongs to Jack, as it was he and the Secretary Isle that carried the newly-flensed whale skeleton to the deepest part of Sooke Basin in 1989, dropping it submerged in a cage for the crabs to clean up. When the crabs’ work was done, it was raised again, and today the re-assembled whale proudly graces the commons of EMCS.
Jack continued running the Secretary Isle for charter fishing even up to the age of 90. As his wife grew frail and lost her eyesight, Jack cared for her solicitously. After she passed away in 1996 he sold his waterfront home and moved to a cottage in the Whiffin Spit area.
Notes for Meneen Madelene (Spouse 1)
A Meneen Madeline Dixon listed listed in the 1907 July to September birth index for Ringwood, Hampshire, volume 2b page 692.
Canadian Passenger Lists
Departed Liverpool, arrived Halifax, Nova Scotia on the Virginian, April 18, 1913, Madaline Dixon, age 34, married, has been in Canada before in 1905 at Calgary for 2 years, 7 years away, English race, destination Calgary Alberta to husband, clerk, Church of England. Daughter ???? [can’t decipher name, the transcriber has Norine which sounds much like Meneen] Dixon, age 5, never been in Canada, born England.
In the 1916 census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, Calgary West, Alberta, place of habitation Sarcee Municipality.
Wife Madeline M. Dixon, age 38, born England, Anglican, immigrated 1912 [should be 1913],
Head Frank O. Dixon, in military service in Canada, age 37, born England, Anglican immigration year 1914.
Daughter Meneen M. Dixon, age 8, born England, immigrated 1912.
In the same dwelling. Listed first are Thomas and Annie Perry and their children and there habitation place is Beddington Municipality.
Findagrave.com
Meneen Madeline Dixon Homer
Birth 11 Jul 1907
Ringwood, New Forest District, Hampshire, England
Death 23 Feb 1996 (aged 88)
Sooke, Capital Regional District, British Columbia, Canada
Burial Saint Mary's Cemetery
Metchosin, Capital Regional District, British Columbia, Canada
Plot I-09
Memorial ID 156686167
Event Type:Death
Registration Number:1996-09-003266
Event Date (YYYY-MM-DD):1996-02-23
Event Place:VICTORIA
Age at Death:88
Person:MENEEN MADELENE HOMER
Father- Frank Oakes Dixon born in Leeds, England
Mother- Madeline Mary Parry born in Daronshire, England
Husband- John (Jack) Keelinge Homer (1911-2011) married Oct 28, 1933 in St Mary's Church, Metchosin, BC
Canadian Passenger Lists
Departed Liverpool, arrived Halifax, Nova Scotia on the Virginian, April 18, 1913, Madaline Dixon, age 34, married, has been in Canada before in 1905 at Calgary for 2 years, 7 years away, English race, destination Calgary Alberta to husband, clerk, Church of England. Daughter ???? [can’t decipher name, the transcriber has Norine which sounds much like Meneen] Dixon, age 5, never been in Canada, born England.
In the 1916 census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, Calgary West, Alberta, place of habitation Sarcee Municipality.
Wife Madeline M. Dixon, age 38, born England, Anglican, immigrated 1912 [should be 1913],
Head Frank O. Dixon, in military service in Canada, age 37, born England, Anglican immigration year 1914.
Daughter Meneen M. Dixon, age 8, born England, immigrated 1912.
In the same dwelling. Listed first are Thomas and Annie Perry and their children and there habitation place is Beddington Municipality.
Findagrave.com
Meneen Madeline Dixon Homer
Birth 11 Jul 1907
Ringwood, New Forest District, Hampshire, England
Death 23 Feb 1996 (aged 88)
Sooke, Capital Regional District, British Columbia, Canada
Burial Saint Mary's Cemetery
Metchosin, Capital Regional District, British Columbia, Canada
Plot I-09
Memorial ID 156686167
Event Type:Death
Registration Number:1996-09-003266
Event Date (YYYY-MM-DD):1996-02-23
Event Place:VICTORIA
Age at Death:88
Person:MENEEN MADELENE HOMER
Father- Frank Oakes Dixon born in Leeds, England
Mother- Madeline Mary Parry born in Daronshire, England
Husband- John (Jack) Keelinge Homer (1911-2011) married Oct 28, 1933 in St Mary's Church, Metchosin, BC