FLAMBOROUGH - If someone needed a hand in Freelton, you could be sure Frank Jamieson would step up.
“Whenever volunteers were asked for, he was first in line,” recalls his widow Theresa, noting that over the years he supported many sports, community events and project in the village.
Frank Leslie Jamieson was born on Dec. 15, 1924; the family was living in Kirkwall before moving to 7th Concession West. Frank went to school in Strabane, where one of his aunts was a teacher.
In the 1940s, the family moved again - this time to Freelton, where he met Theresa. She recalls that there were only about eight or nine young people in the community at that time, so they all naturally got together. Every few weeks, they would all gather at one of their homes to play games.
Frank attended Westdale High School in Hamilton. There were no school buses, so he had to take a city bus, which was quite expensive. After high school, Frank worked on local farms, including Al Gunson’s farm; Theresa remembers “that was what he really loved to do.”
Off to war
After the Second World War started, once he was 18, Frank signed up to serve in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and was sent to Quebec for his initial training. That was the first time he ever had the opportunity to play baseball, a passion which would stay with him for the rest of his life.
From Quebec, Frank was sent to England. The family knows that he flew a Lancaster, but he never talked about his war experiences otherwise. Theresa and Frank wrote to each other while he was away, but she admits that there were also some “tiffs.” "You can be awfully foolish when you’re young,” she said.
After the war, Frank returned to working on local farms for about a year and then was hired on at Stelco. He used to tell the family that he started out pushing a broom and worked his way up. Initially, he did a few night shifts and threatened to quit unless he could work days, so they found him a job in the metallurgy department, which was day shifts only. Frank rose through the ranks until he was head of that department, supervising all the metallurgists. He retired after 38 years at Stelco.
Theresa and Frank “found each other” after his return from the war and they got married on June 7, 1952 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church. They both knew they wanted to stay in Freelton.
As a veteran, Frank was given 17 acres of land in the village; in 1956, they moved into a new home on part of that land. There, they raised their four children: Jeanne, David, Mark and Helen.
A passion for sports
Once he was established with a job, home and family, Frank turned his attention to sports and volunteering. Baseball was always his number one passion. Indeed, after Frank discovered that Stelco had a baseball team, Theresa remembers that he suddenly started doing a lot more “overtime” at work.
In 1954, Frank started the local baseball league. He umpired, coached, maintained the local diamonds and also played himself. He served a term as president of the Ontario Rural Softball Association and served as director for the league for over 20 years.
David remembers his father still playing for the local orthodox team until he was 82. David, Mark and their uncle were all on the same team, with Frank pitching.
Mark remembers trying to persuade his dad not to pitch his curve ball because of the risk that the batter might hit the ball right at him. Frank’s response was, “But what a way to go.”
At an earlier game in Freelton, Frank did get a ball to the face. He was bleeding and his glasses were broken; he simply walked off the field and kept going. When he returned to the game, they saw that he had walked home to clean up and repair his glasses with white tape.
In the winter months, because there was no baseball, he started a badminton league on Monday nights at Freelton’s Marian Hall. He played for years and also supervised the adults’ and children’s leagues. Jeanne points out that Frank played a role in getting Marian Hall built.
Frank was supportive of David and Mark’s desire to play hockey, even though he never played himself. When they were younger, Frank would flood their driveway so they could skate, and then he got involved with putting up boards in Centennial Park and flooding that rink. When the arena was built at Clappison’s Corners, Frank was instrumental in founding the Flamborough Minor Hockey Association.
Lions Club projects - and more
In 1986, Frank was a charter member of the Freelton Lions Club. Fellow charter member Peter Kachuik remembers that Frank and Bob Duffy were co-chairs of the Lions food trailer at Bryan’s Auctions in Puslinch. About half a dozen times a year, Lions members would staff the food trailer for a live farm auction. Peter also helped Frank with flooding the rinks in both Freelton parks.
Eventually, the Lions Club spearheaded a multi-use ice pad in Freelton Community Park. The ice pad opened in 2016 and was named after Frank.
Jeanne remembers her father taking up woodworking, possibly as a pre-retirement project; he set up a workspace in the garage and signed up for night school courses Westdale High School where he learned to make furniture.
In retirement, Frank started volunteering with the Red Cross, delivering Meals on Wheels and driving people to appointments. His family also recalls his vegetable garde - the biggest in Freelton - and said potatoes were his specialty.
Sadly, he had to give up gardening due to macular degeneration. His children say that, as soon as they were put in charge of it, the garden became smaller and they were never able to replicate the quality of potatoes Frank had produced.
Growing up, the family remembers that the radio was always on 900 CHML talk radio, never any music stations. In the last 10 years of Frank’s life, they were surprised to find that Frank often listened to a classic country music station.
Frank’s athletic endeavours and support were recognized by the City of Hamilton in 2008, when he was presented with the Ray Lewis Athlete Community Service Award. He passed away on January 3, 2024, leaving behind many memories and tangible signs of his passions and volunteering.