JOHn CANNOn

John “Duke” Cannon (Ivan Kalyniuk, in Ukrainian) was born on May 23, 1918, in Hamilton, Ontario, and was the second of four children to Zachary Kalyniuk and Anna Levko. He grew up in the North End with his brothers Michael (b. 1916) and Metro (b.1919) and sister Nelle (b.1921), who he would play cowboys with on the train tracks. One time when the kids were called in for dinner, the boys left Nelle on top of a boxcar, and John’s daughter Kathy remembers her father telling her that when he got home, his father smacked him across the ears – an incident he credited the ringing in his ears to later in life. Being the son of Ukrainian immigrants, English was a second language for John and his siblings growing up. Without much family in Canada, they connected with other Hamiltonian Ukrainian immigrants to keep their language, culture, and traditions alive. The children attended Ukrainian language classes, celebrated Ukrainian Orthodox Christmas on January 7th, ate traditional meals like cabbage soup and borscht, pierogies, and cabbage rolls, and all took up Ukrainian dancing. When John was seventeen, he even went to New York City to dance in a movie by Vasile Avramenko (who was credited with bringing Ukrainian dance to Canada) called Cossacks Over the Danube. John’s childhood, overall, was pretty normal – playing sports like stick-ball with the neighbourhood kids, practicing Ukrainian dancing, listening to popular radio programs, and going to the movie theatre. He attended Hamilton Technical Institute (Central Secondary) with his brothers, where he became adept at mechanics and was on the wrestling team. However, life as he knew it changed at age 21, when the Second World War broke out. 

After Canada declared war on Germany on September 10th, 1939, John enlisted in the Canadian Army, while Michael joined the British Army overseas. His brother Metro joined the Canadian Army in July 1940. After attending basic training at Camp Borden as part of the 1st Division Petrol Company RCASC, an artillery division, John’s platoon marched down Wentworth Street to the CNR train station, where they took a train to the East Coast and boarded RMS Empress of  Britain, headed for Aldershot, England.  He was among the 7,449 men that comprised the first convoy of troops to leave Halifax, Nova Scotia on December 10th, 1939. After being stationed in Aldershot for some time, he was later part of a group sent to Brest, France, on the northern coast along the English Channel. At least a couple times he was able to meet up with his brothers Michael and Metro, when he was given leave. When John was promoted to Captain, he became in charge of other soldiers and the storerooms. In late 1941, after Japan attacked Pearl Harbour and the United States entered the war, he was posted back to Canada in British Columbia for more training; fortunately, the war ended before he had to return overseas. Years after the war, John was commissioned as a Qualified Major, meaning that if he went back into the service he would be granted the rank of Major Cannon. 

Though he generally didn’t talk about the war with his family, when, on Remembrance Day,  he’d get together with his war buddies from Labatt's – Gord Hunter (airforce) and Stu Jones (navy) – he would sometimes be willing to share a story. The one that’s most remembered by his descendants is that he shot down a German scout plane doing reconnaissance over England. It was both an enthralling and harrowing experience for him and his comrades. Another that Gary, his oldest son, remembers being told happened during the Dunkirk evacuation in France, in spring 1940. He recalls his dad telling him that whenever he parked his motorcycle he would rip a piece of his cigarette package off and shove it in the spark plug so that if someone tried to steal it, it wouldn’t start. When everyone was told to evacuate that day, John pulled the paper out from the spark plug, but the engine still wouldn’t start. He was watching everyone frantically evacuate when he realized that a piece of the cigarette package had gotten jammed in the plug; he managed to get it out, and take off just in time. His daughter Patti remembers him telling her about a time when he was in a restaurant cafe in Brest, when he got a feeling that he should leave; moments after he did, the restaurant blew up. The German Army had marched into Paris, and he was required to retreat to England.

After a brief marriage that was dissolved when he returned from the war, in the late ‘40s he met Gladys Podetz, the daughter of Romanian immigrants, through their mutual involvement in the Multicultural Council. They married on May 7th 1949, Gladys’ birthday, in a traditional Orthodox double-ring wedding at Holy Resurrection Romanian Orthodox Church on Murray Street. After a honeymoon in New York City, they settled into an apartment on 125 Gladstone, and had their first daughter, Patti (b.1951), and first son, John (Gary) (b.1952). After a couple years, they moved to 618 Fennell, and had their second son Greg (b.1954); Gladys’ parents and her youngest brother Dani lived on the second floor. After Gladys’ relatives moved to 38 Viewpoint in 1955, John and Gladys moved their family to 37 Kenwood Crescent on the East Mountain, and had their second daughter Kathryn (b.1957). Around 1959 the family of six moved into the three-bedroom house behind John and his brother-in-law Russell Parash’s businesses at 935 Fennell. When Russell sold his store in 1965 – selling the house John and his family were renting, too – they moved to 42nd Street for one year, before buying John’s mother’s house at 505 Upper Gage, where the family settled for good. 

With his military background, John could be a strict father, but it came out of his love for and protectiveness over his children. He was a fun dad, and in the winter he would make snow forts for the kids to climb on, and a skating rink in the backyard. He also made a boxing ring for his sons, which all the neighbourhood boys enjoyed. While they didn’t have the money to go on vacations, coming out of the Depression and the war, John would take his family on picnics and day trips, sometimes with other family members or church friends. They visited places like Hidden Valley Park, Old Fort York, Fort Henry, Shady Acres in Binbrook, the RBG, and Niagara Falls. They also spent time out at Gladys’ grandparents’ old farm in Princeton. His kids remember that while they didn’t have a lot of money growing up, they were grateful to have had a roof over their heads, food on the table, and parents who supported them and made their childhoods special in every way they could.

When John returned from the war he became a salesman for Labatt’s Breweries, supplying local bars and pubs like Duffy’s Tavern, the Jockey Club, and The Brant Inn. After he left Labatt’s in the late ‘50s, John opened his own insurance company – which soon after became John Cannon Real Estate – next to Russell’s Confectionary at 935 Fennell. While he sold some houses, including one to Hardiman Cureton who was a Ti-Cat,  his real estate venture was short-lived, and he soon helped Gladys and her mother Dora turn his half of the building into Fennell Fish and Chips, which opened around 1960, and was in business for almost 25 years. After contacting suppliers to get the store up-and-running, he and his father-in-law became in charge of peeling and chipping the potatoes. John also worked with the Multicultural Council, a forerunner to the Hamilton Folk Arts Council. Through that work, he started “It’s Your Bag Day” in Gage Park (which later became It’s Your Festival), a big multi-day festival celebrating all nationalities, with booths that sold ethnic food and memorabilia. He was also the Managing Editor of their monthly paper The New Perspective, and organized floats for the Ukrainian and Romanian communities to enter the Canada Centennial Parade on July 1st 1967. Additionally, he brought the first Christmas Parade to the Hamilton Mountain in 1970, where it remained for the next three parades (‘74, ‘76, and ‘79).

As evidenced by his extensive involvement in the community, John had a creative mind and an entrepreneurial spirit. He developed prototypes for the flip-top cigarette package, disposable diapers, and even the Coca-Cola vending machine, but he didn’t have the money to patent them. Unfortunately after he pitched his ideas, they were soon brought to market by someone else. He also invented a rail to put Christmas lights up on the house, consisting of a channel with drilled holes for the lights to go through. Additionally, John worked with Aidan Finn to open and take over a newspaper called the Hamilton Mountaineer, a weekly paper that was a forerunner to the Mountain News. The pair also created the Canadian Western Rider, a publication for the western-style horse-riding community. He would attend local fairs in the area with the Rider, and organized a horse show in Hamilton at Bernie Arbour Stadium in 1971, with future Hamilton mayor Bob Bratina as host. His sons gave him the nickname “Duke” for his  love of westerns, especially those with John Wayne; all the boys’ friends called him Duke, and he would later be known and remembered as Papa Duke by his grand- and great-grandchildren.

John’s interests were diverse. He loved politics, and supported members of the Conservative party like Diefenbaker, and also supported Winston Churchill and John F. Kennedy. He was strongly opposed to Communism.  He loved sports, especially hockey, baseball, football, and boxing, and enjoyed watching Friday Night Fights, and Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday nights, cheering on the Maple Leafs. He was a die-hard Hamilton Ticat fan, and would always listen to the games on 900 CHML before they were broadcast on TV. He also loved the Hamilton Red Wings, the Junior A hockey team that he’d take his sons to watch. His music taste was expansive, and his favourite musicians included the Beatles, Dusty Springfield, Freddie and the Dreamers, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Gene Krupa, Ginger Baker, Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Nana Mouskouri, and all the big band names of the time. His time in the military gave him a liking  for pipe and drum music, and he also enjoyed listening to Ukrainian and Romanian music, and Walter Ostenak’s Polka Band. In addition to westerns, he enjoyed watching the Ed Sullivan Show and other variety programs, especially comedic ones, as well as epic war movies, Abbott and Costello, The Honeymooners, All in the Family, and I Love Lucy. His love for dancing continued throughout his life, and, in addition to Ukrainian dancing,  he enjoyed doing the waltz, polka, tango, and foxtrot. His favourite meal to cook was roast beef with Yorkshire pudding; he also made the dressing for turkey and would make borscht.

John is remembered for his intelligence, as showcased through his love for reading and writing. He would get up at five or six o’clock in the morning, have his cigarettes and a cup of tea with toast at the kitchen table, and breeze through a book, before anyone else was even out of bed. He read novels on the Cold War, enjoyed spy novels by John le Carre and Robert Ludlum, and was known to quote the philosopher Omar Khayyam, as well as the essay “Message to Garcia.” In later years he read the newspaper every day. He also wrote essays and articles on topics like the USSR, and developed stories, such as one based on his experiences as a taxi driver later in life. He even sent it to New York, but they turned it down; is it mere coincidence that only a few years later the sitcom Taxi came out? Another demonstration of his intelligence is through the languages he learned. He was fluent in English and Ukrainian, but could also carry a conversation in Russian, Polish, and Romanian. Though he believed in reincarnation, John was not a religious man, and always said that “I don’t need to go to church to pray – I can pray in a field with bombs overhead.” Despite this, he would still help out at the Romanian church that Gladys’ family belonged to, attended the Father’s Day banquets, and cooked (and drank) with all the men at the Mother’s Day banquets.

After his brothers settled in Alberta and England, John became very close to his sister Nelle and her husband Russell. He continued to see Metro, as he would visit from Alberta every Christmas. Although he saw him periodically over the years, John always wanted to go back to England to visit his brother Michael and his family, but was never able to. He was close to his mother, especially during the years after his father’s death. He also developed a great relationship with Gladys’ parents, helping at the Romanian church and spending Christmas Eves at Viewpoint with them and the large Podetz family. Christmas Days were spent at his parents’ house with the Cannon relatives (as well as Gladys’ parents and brother Dani), before they eventually took on the festivities themselves. While all the gifts were done on English Christmas, John still kept the tradition of celebrating Orthodox Christmas alive with his family, sharing a big traditional meal every January 7th at his parents’ house, or later at Nelle and Russell’s house.

John’s pride in having served for his country shone through his life-long dedication to the army. He was with the reserves in the 1950s and ‘60s, trained cadets and student militia at the James Street Armouries, and would go away on weekends to train militia at Camp Borden. He was also President and Public Relations Officer for Branch #522 of the Canadian Legion. Every November 11th he marched in the Remembrance Day parade, and would take his family to the cenotaph in Gore Park. Patti remembers that after the parade her mom would always take them to see Santa Claus at the Eaton Centre, while her dad spent the day with his buddies. From his military training, John always shined his shoes, and dressed in a shirt and tie (or bow-tie) and dress pants – until his later years, when he preferred to wear Perry Como sweaters.

In the fall of 1979 John fell ill, and was diagnosed with lung cancer; he passed away at home on January 22nd, 1980 at age 61. His funeral was at Cresmount on Fennell, and people were lined up outside to pay their respects to the family and honour his memory. A wake was held at their home on 505 Upper Gage. In honour of John’s wishes to “throw my ashes in the bay and I’ll clean it up,” on Good Friday, Gladys, Gary, Greg, and Bill Kerr (Patti’s then-husband) spread his ashes in Coote’s Paradise. They remember it as somewhat magical, as the sun rose over the lake and a gust of wind caught the ashes, scattering them across the Coote’s. Gary remembers that a year or two later, the Dofasco Illustrated News printed an article about how the fish were coming back to Coote’s Paradise. John really did clean it up.

John’s greatest pride in life was his family, and he would do anything to protect them. His most memorable catchphrase is “you can choose your friends but you can’t choose your relatives;” he recognized that family was family, through the good and bad. He was a loving father, supportive husband, and valued community member. He was extremely proud of how far he and his family had come,  and how he had managed to keep his Ukrainian heritage alive, passing the traditions and culture down to his kids. He would be proud to see that those traditions and values have continued to be passed down through the generations.
 

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in loving memory of John Cannon
May 23 1918 - January 22 1980