Wilfred BAYNTON

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BAYNTON: Wilfred Elmer Baynton (Bill), April 3, 1920 to March 11, 2010. Bill Baynton died unexpectedly in the Brandon Regional Health Center March 11. He was finding life difficult with a tricky heart and arthritis in far too many places. He signed onto a waiting list for a nursing home and then within days “slipped the bonds” of this earth and moved on to a higher plane of existence. He was predeceased by his wife Irene (1997), sisters Gladys Cook, Marge Chalmers, and Bunny Bass. He will be missed by daughters Nancy Baynton, Janice Baynton, Lisa Baynton-Cairns and son Mark Baynton as well as grandchildren Jasmine Cairns, Quin Waterman, Stephen Musselwhite, Dylan Baynton, Tyne and Emily Cairns. His funeral service was held on March 15 at his family church: Central United. Pallbearers were: Grandson Dylan Baynton, son-in-law Christopher Cairns, grandson Stephen Musselwhite, granddaughter Jasmine Cairns, and family friends Barry Lee and Gary MacKay. Bill Baynton was a well traveled man who was proud to be a prairie boy. He liked and admired prairie people and prairie life in all its simplicity. Any given summer he could tell you where a fox’s den could be found, which fields between Brandon and Clear Lake had horses with foals and where the best cooking might be enjoyed. He loved cloud formations in a prairie sky and blue fields of flax planted next to yellow fields of canola. He appreciated the beauty of the countryside by Neepawa with its rolling fields of sunflowers. Most of all Bill loved a prairie sunset and found perfect spots to admire them from. Bill was born and raised in Brandon, Manitoba and there he lived his life. He was a gentleman in the true sense of the word: Principled and honourable, courteous and well mannered. He grew up on 2nd Street in Brandon with three older sisters, mother Lily and father Robert. He was deeply influenced by his father’s strength of character and leadership and enjoyed riding the train with his father or meeting the train when it arrived. He remembered meetings of the rail workers at their kitchen table and difficult decisions that led to strikes. At age 18, after his father’s death, Bill Baynton drove trucks for Coca-Cola to pay his way through university. He never forgot his humble beginnings and remembered Coca-Cola as a supportive employer. He was proud to graduate from Brandon University and thought that life long education made the world a very interesting place indeed. Bill went to war when called but snuck home from training at Portage la Prairie to be with his newly widowed mother and his sisters for Christmas. He retold this story to highlight those “great prairie boys” that covered for him every role call and assured the sergeant that “Bill Baynton was on the base somewhere…they’d just seen him.” Bill was proud of his achievements of becoming a pilot and then a navigator in the air force but he never over represented himself by leaving people with the impression he had seen battle. He honoured friends that had seen active duty. Bill met Irene Taylor early but they never married until he left the air force and established a business. He was 30 and she 26.... sensible by today’s standards but too long a wait according to his mother-in-law Emily. His children do not know when his poetry writing began but Irene was his muse and their love his most common theme. Together they had four children and formed a happy adventurous family: summers at Clear Lake, Expo’67 Montreal, and each Easter a train ride through the Rockies to Vancouver and then the Ferry to the Empress in Victoria. As time went by a wheel chair for wife Irene came into the details of the trip but he handled it with such panache that it did not slow the family down. The trait which best describes Bill Baynton is loyal. He was loyal to his dear wife Irene in sickness and in health. Irene was diagnosed with MS after their fourth child was born. She remained in their home with their family for another 35 years. The last ten years of her life was in a nursing home across the street from Bill’s place of business. He was loyal to his children in sickness and in health. Their eldest daughter became an invalid at 19 years of age. There were years when his daily routine included a trip to Fairview Home and then a trip to Hillcrest to see Irene and Nancy…whistling all the way. While not wanting to make light of the care he gave Irene and Nancy, he would not approve them being depicted as a burden to him. Bill was a loyal friend. Many have their own stories to attest to this but his children and grandchildren can testify that Bill as your friend held you dear in his heart and in his life. Bill’s grandchildren know the story from his childhood of Johnny Penman who went to Sykes toboggan slide with Bill but walked the train tracks home. All know the spot Bill pointed out where Johnny turned and waved good-bye! They were just 12 years old. Later a second train approaching Johnny on parallel tracks would mask the sound of the train that was coming up behind him. Johnny died on the tracks at twelve years of age but lived on in Bill’s heart and stories. Derry Gibson was honoured and remembered as a brave pilot who died in WWII bringing a crippled plane in to land in England. Bill held Derry’s life dear and spent time finding his grave in a small cemetery in rural England and paying his respects. A trait we miss already is his “joie de vie”. He always had a twinkle in his eye and a cheerful greeting. Bill thought life itself was an occasion worth dressing well for and dress well he did. He was positively dapper. He thought most days offered a sunset well worth watching and people should pause to watch them. He thought politics was much more interesting in the days of Pierre Elliot Trudeau and that the best city to watch a hockey game in was Montreal: Such knowledgeable fans. He enjoyed holding that opinion in the middle of the prairies! He loved to tease friends and family, he loved to whistle a tune and he loved to smile. He will be missed.

As published in Brandon Sun on Apr 24, 2010