JOHN DANIEL (NICK) BEATON

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JOHN DANIEL (NICK) BEATON

One of South Winnipeg's best-known bachelors, Nick Beaton, passed away on Thursday, May 26, at the age of 87.
He was born in Winnipeg on April 14, 1935, the son of Daniel and Lorine (White) Beaton, whose friends called him "Nick" before he was born. Despite the best intentions of Dan and Lorine to name him "John Daniel" at birth, his "Nick-name" prevailed for his entire life.
Nick grew up on Kingston Crescent in St. Vital and attended Windsor School until Grade 9. He went to Glenlawn Collegiate for Grade 10 but moved to United College for Grade 11; he continued there until he completed his Bachelor of Arts degree. He went to work at the Canadian Bank of Commerce before eventually joining his father's company, Wilson-Gregory Lumber. When Dan died in 1966, Nick took over the business.
That included St. Vital Lumber, which Nick turned into a thriving enterprise, making it the local "go-to" home-improvement place in the days before big-box stores.
In his youth, Nick had an active social life. It was apparently a girlfriend who convinced him to dye his hair, and that caused most of his close friends to call him "Rusty." For those people, that name persisted throughout his life.
He was a member of the Winnipeg Winter Club, where he mainly played tennis.
In the late 1970s, he purchased a cottage at Victoria Beach, but only after his sister, Janice, convinced him that her family would gladly go there in the summertime. Janice, who died in 2006, spent many a happy time at the cottage, with her husband, Dave Williamson, and their four kids, Linda, Jim, Wendy and Laura.
A few years later, the situation was reversed in the winter, with Janice and Dave buying a ski place near McCreary, Manitoba, and Nick becoming a part of "The Wild Ones," a group of skiers and partiers who went out there every weekend. Nick played a role in teaching his nieces how to ski. One major event the Wild Ones indulged in was their annual Boat-Ski.
An annual ritual in Nick's condo—from the year 1961 when Linda was born right up until the present—saw Nick assemble his nephew and nieces (and anyone else who happened to be visiting) for his animated reading of "The Night Before Christmas".
Nick was a great sports fan. He rarely missed a Winnipeg Jets or Blue Bombers game on TV, and his mood the next day was always determined by the outcome of the game. In later years, he became an avid spectator at the hockey games of Laura's son Luke, and the recitals and softball games of Laura's daughter Jaden.
One of his favourite pastimes was meeting his friends for breakfast or lunch at Salisbury House.
He liked traveling, especially in winter. He went to places like Hawaii and Hilton Head, and, after he retired, he began going to Mesa, Arizona, mainly to golf. He played a lot of golf at Victoria Beach, too, often with Mark Elliott (Laura's husband) and Luke.
He also liked to visit niece Wendy and her son Jacob in Jordan Station, near Niagara Falls.
In recent years, while at the cottage, he loved to go dancing on Thursday evenings at the Birchwood Inn, south of Victoria Beach. The year he turned 80, with Jaden and Luke as witnesses, he dove head-first into Lake Winnipeg off the Victoria Beach pier. Lately, he worked out regularly at the Reh-Fit Centre.
A "Celebration of Life" reception will be held at 2:00 p.m., June 21, at Chapel Lawn Funeral Home, 4000 Portage Avenue. If friends wish to, they can make donations in the memory of Nick Beaton to the Winnipeg Humane Society Foundation or the CancerCare Manitoba Foundation.

For those who wish to sign the online Guest Book please visit www.chapellawn.ca
Chapel Lawn Funeral Home
204-885-9715

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As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Jun 04, 2022