Obit

Alexander (Jack) Ross

August 15th, 1930 October 4th, 2006 Jack passed away peacefully in the comfort of his home with his family at his side. As he lived his life with passion and urgency, so he left us. He will be sorrowfully missed by his wife Jane of 51 years, daughters Patricia (Jose) of San Diego, CA, Jackie (Cliff), Victoria, BC and two adoring grandsons Alex and David also of San Diego. He is also survived by his sister Ann (Cobble Hill, BC) and her children as well as relatives in Canada and Britain. In his retiring years Jack was well known for his passion; model boat building and made many friends through his hobby. The family would like to thank Dr. Hugh Down and the Juan de Fuca home support agency with special thanks to Christine and Dianne and to our many friends and relatives who have supported us during this difficult time. Please join us for a celebration of Jack's life on Wednesday (11th) from 2:00 to 5:00 at the University of Victoria Commons Building. In lieu of flowers, we respectfully request donations to the Victoria Red Cross or Victoria Hospice. 303342 Jack Ross

Published in the Victoria Times-Colonist from 10/7/2006 - 10/8/2006.

I SAW THE LIGHT !

I really did not want my Mother thinking that all you had to do was "meditate" and you could communicate with the dead, so I immediately discredited the recent news that my aunt had "heard" from my deceased dad. The story goes that she had been in deep meditation and that she heard my dad talking to her. As much as I would have loved that to be true, common sense would not allow me to buy into the idea and especially not my mother. After all, she was just putting her life back together after my father's passing and I did not want her to relapse, especially since we had focused on the wonderful years of living she had ahead. Taking up meditation so that she could communicate with dear ol' dad was not what we wanted for her.

With this in mind, you can imagine how surprised I was at the sequence of events that happened just a couple of days later. It was Friday night and my husband, 13 year old son and myself were watching TV. Our older son was out for the evening and I was anxious about him coming home on time, so I glanced at the clock and it happened to be 11:11.

I have no idea where this came from but our boys have a thing that if you glance at the clock and it is 11:11 you get to make a wish. I made my wish and finished it off with a comment to my dad that went something like, "I don't need wishes with you watching over us".

I often speak to my dad in my head of course so there was nothing strange about that, however exactly seven minutes later the ceiling light above where we were sitting turned on by itself. Yes, turned on by itself! As we were looking around at each other in surprise and wondering how this happened, my son's phone began to ring. The ring tone was a laughing tone, so it made it sound like someone was laughing. So the light turned on by itself and the laughter broke the silence . . . !

I do not know how this happened as there is no explanation of how a light turns on by itself or a phone rings (laughing) with no one on the other end. But somehow I think that my Dad might be closer than we think. Perhaps by turning on the light he was telling me to "see the light". Then he was laughing like hell as we sat there looking like scardy cats trying to figure it out.

Not to mention the date of this strange event: 8.08.08

Father's Day 2008

Dear Dad,

We miss you so much! We will never forget you! You have left such a void in our lives but somehow we are managing. We know you would want us to be happy and we are trying to move forward but it is still so very hard. Where ever you are please know that we love you and miss you!

The Motor Home Days

Jack bought a motor home in the early '90s. He spend some time getting it in order...making it perfect! The purpose of buying the motor home was to visit his daughter and family in Mazatlan, Mexico. The trek was from Victoria, BC down to Tucson, AZ. In Tucson they would load up the motor home with things from the shopping list from daughter. These were mostly things you could not get in Mexico at the time and things for Christmas for the grandsons. From Tucson, it was a clear shot down to Mazatlan.

Jack and Jane would arrive at the end of October and stay until the early Spring. These were fun times for everyone. They met lots of interesting people at the motor home park including Doug Booth and wife from White Rock, BC who they kept in touch with until recently.

When Alex was 5 years old Jack and Jane took him back to Canada with them. They stopped in Vegas and visited the Hoover Dam. Great fun was had by all.

The motor home days ended when his daughter and family moved to Cabo San Lucas in '97. The idea of driving down the baja was not appealing, especially due to the danger factor on the single lane highways.

When not in use traveling to Mexico the motor home sat outside Jack and Jane's house. It was Jack's bachelor pad. When people came to stay at the house Jack would retreat to the motor home for some quite time. He would make his tea and watch the news out there. Of course, after lunch it was the perfect place to have a quiet siesta.

Meat Pie & Beans...

Jack's taste for food was simple. In fact, one of his favorite meals was a meat pie from the Dutch Bakery and some beans. Of course this needed to be accompanied by HP Sauce and a strong cup of tea.

Ross Clan History

The name Ross derives from the ancient Celtic word "Ros", meaning "a promontory", in this case the lands of Easter Ross. The clan is known to Highlanders as Clann Aindreas - the sons of Andrew.
The traditional progenitor of the clan was Fearchar Mac an t Sagairt which is translated as "son of the priest". Fearchar was created Earl of Ross in 1234, for services to Alexander II.
The last chief of the clan Ross to hold the earldom died in 1372, having fathered no sons. His daughter tried to claim the earldom, but it passed to the MacDonalds of the Isles and subsequently into the hands of the crown in 1476. The once proud Ross estate of Balnagowan became heavily burdened by debt in the 18th century and it was purchased by a lowland branch of the Ross family who, although bearing the family name, were genealogically complete strangers to the Celtic Earls of Ross.
In the early 20th century the chiefship of the clan Ross was restored to the true line.