John Henry Dikken

John immigrated from his home town of Hengelo, Holland in 1952 with his parents and 3 sisters. They settled in Edmonton and John lived there until moving to the island in 1976 with his own family. John is survived by his wife Gladys, daughter Shelley (Derek) Parussini, Victoria, daughter Angie (Bill) LaPointe, Cedar and son John (Trish) Dikken Ladysmith, his grandchildren Sara, Joe, Anna (Jon) and Jason and great- grandsons Jaxen and Brodie all of Nanaimo. Also survived by his sisters Minnie(Jim) Beaman, Cerrie (Graham) Mace and brother- in-law Bruce (Sheila) Shier and many nieces and nephews.

John had a variety of jobs during his life, truck driving, retail salesman and his favorite, carpenter. He worked many years at Harmac Pacific in carpentry and always enjoyed the boys he worked with. He square danced for 43 years and made many friends on the island. John started a small band with a group of friends and went around to different seniors homes to play for them and john took pleasure in dancing with some of the ladies there. He took up playing the clarinet at age 71 and found it challenging to say the least but still enjoyed that. He spent 18 years sailing around the area in his 26' sailboat "Chicklet", sold the boat and did a lot of camping on the island. One of the favorite things in his life was being part of the Cedar United Church, the choir and was so fond of the congregation. He will be missed by his family and friends.

Celebration of Life to be held on Saturday, November 10th, 10:30 until approx. 2 pm at Trinity United Church (Ecumenical Center) Spartan Road off Metral.