elevated pyaek August 3, 1939 – August 13, 2024

elevated pyaek Visitation
Tuesday August 20, 2024 from 4:00 – 8:00 pm
Holy Cross Catholic Funeral Home
211 Langstaff Road East, Thornhill, Ontario, L3T 3Z6

elevated pyaek Funeral Mass
Wednesday August 21, 2024 at 10:30 am-Chapel of St. Joseph
Holy Cross Catholic Funeral Home
211 Langstaff Road East, Thornhill, Ontario, L3T 3Z6

elevated pyaek To view Funeral Mass Click Here

elevated pyaek Reception
Following Funeral Mass, Holy Cross Catholic Funeral Home

elevated pyaek Interment
Christ the King Catholic Cemetery
7770 Steeles Ave E, Markham, ON, L6B 1A8

Obituary

elevated pyaek  “Tell them how blessed I was.”~ Jim, the night before he died

elevated pyaek  “Cheerful in all weathers. Never shirked a task. Splendid behavior.”~ from Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry

elevated pyaek  It is with great sorrow that we announce the passing of James (Jim) Michael Jordan, on August 13, 2024 in Toronto. Jim believed that God put him on earth to do good; and it is a task he executed to perfection.

elevated pyaek Beloved son of Irene (Walker) and William Jordan, Jim was born on August 3, 1939 in High River, Alberta. The fourth of eight siblings, Jim spent the first 10 years of his life in the nearby hamlet of Blackie, the backdrop for many vivid, happy childhood memories that he recounted often to the delight of his children and grandchildren.

elevated pyaek Jim’s teenage years unfolded in Calgary, where he was a legendary quarterback of the St. Mary’s High School football team, earning the award for Canadian high school athlete of the year in 1957. Jim was also a gifted hockey player; he played for many years in both Blackie and Calgary and his love of the game and the Calgary Flames was a lifelong obsession. (In his later years, every year for Christmas, he would be gifted what his family jokingly referred to as “The Bible”—that is, the NHL’s annual Official Guide and Record Book, which his children knew to treat with as much reverence as the actual bible.)

elevated pyaek Following high school, Jim reluctantly decided to enter the seminary when no other vocation seemed a match for his restless ambition. Despite a sense of unease with that decision from the start, Jim’s desire to do something significant with his life and belief in always following through led to a 17-year commitment to the priesthood, beginning in 1965. During this time, Jim provided pastoral care to thousands of people in communities all over Alberta, including Calgary (St. Mary’s Cathedral, St. Anthony’s Parish, St. Gerard’s, Bishop Grandin High School), Milk River, Coutts, Warner, Medicine Hat, and others.

elevated pyaek Despite his clear gift for ministry, the seed of doubt about his chosen path continued to grow and in 1982, Jim left the priesthood at the age of 43. Around this time, a chance encounter with Margaret (Maggie) McAllister would soon infuse Jim’s life with the passion and fulfillment that he had always felt was missing. Jim and Maggie fell deeply in love; they are the very definition of “soulmates”. Maggie was already a single mother to Alex, and after marrying, they welcomed daughters Clara, Elizabeth (“Lizzie”, a child in the care of Children’s Aid who they fostered for several years and formally adopted in 1992), and Kate. “Fatherman”, as his kids lovingly referred to him, became a parent to four children in five years, and he relished every single moment of fatherhood. Jim was a lover of language and could quote Tennyson and Shakespeare with enviable eloquence, but the phrase he quoted the most in his final days came from a decorative ornament given to him by Kate one Father’s Day, which reads: “The greatest gift I ever had came from God; l call him Dad.”

elevated pyaek Jim was not much of a cook, except when it came to Sunday breakfasts (waffles and crispy bacon were his specialties) and his legendary made-from-scratch chocolate birthday cakes, which he stuffed with meticulously wrapped toonies and loonies and delivered without fail for every birthday in the Jordan household until each kid turned 30! In this and a myriad of other big and small ways, Jim demonstrated a devotion to family with joy and delight that was both admirable and infectious.

elevated pyaek As Jim embraced his new life as a husband and father, he simultaneously embarked on a remarkable career that was seemingly destined for the boy from Blackie with a preternatural love of sport. Following a successful tenure as Executive Director of the 1986 Special Olympics Canada National Games in Calgary (a job he landed with an assist from good friends and past parishioners, Don and Brenda-Ann Taylor), Jim was recruited to be the Executive Director of Special Olympics Ontario. He and Maggie embraced the opportunity and, with a sense of adventure and their signature, unstinting optimism, left everyone and everything they loved in Calgary behind and embarked on a new life in Ontario. A few years later, Jim took the helm as the President of Special Olympics Canada, a position he held from 1990 to 2005, and later the President of the Special Olympics Canada Foundation, where he remained until his retirement in 2008.

elevated pyaek Presiding over the 30,000+ athletes, coaches and volunteers that make up Special Olympics Canada was one of the great joys of Jim’s life and was also the birthplace of many dear and lasting friendships. By sheer coincidence, it also became a deeply personal mission when it was revealed that Lizzie had a developmental disability. Lizzie will always be Jim’s most beloved Special Olympian.

elevated pyaek To understand Jim’s profound love and commitment to Special Olympics Canada, one need look no further than to the book he penned about the movement and its evolution in celebration of its 40th anniversary, called Make No Small Plans. The book was a labour of love that Jim decided to undertake because he instinctively understood the power of memory to both inform and inspire future generations.

elevated pyaek When Jim’s own father died, someone said of him at the funeral: “Today we will bury the most unselfish man I ever met.” Jim aspired to be the kind of person that could live up to that epithet, and he nailed it. His passing leaves an enormous and unfillable hole in the lives of all who loved this most incredible man, who valued people over ideals and lived every day of his 85 years with compassion, optimism and a child-like wonder of the world and its many mysteries until the very end. He was so many things to so many people.

elevated pyaek Jim is survived by his devoted wife of 42 years, Maggie; his children, Alex (and Lara), Clara (and Su-Eong), Lizzie, and Kate (and Corey); his seven grandchildren, whom he treasured and who adored him in return: Joy, Gloria, Scarlett, Joe, Juliet, Eve and Nathan; siblings, Margie, Mary, Renie, Barb and Tony; in-laws Dallas Thill and Karen Jordan, John, Dan, Helen and Donna McAllister, Jennifer Holden, Brian and Cecile McEachen; numerous nieces and nephews, all of whom he cherished, especially Sean and Mark (and Julie) Jordan; dear friend, Fr. Eric Nelson, and many other treasured friends, neighbours and colleagues. He is predeceased by his mother Irene, father William, brothers Bill and Pat, in-laws Tom Connolly, Max Wilke, Gordon Dunnette, Tom Sr. and Clara, Tom, Peter and Paul McAllister; nephews David Dunnette and Kyle Blais; lifelong inestimable friend, Fr. Dennis McDonald, and many other loved ones whose absences he felt keenly.

elevated pyaek If friends and loved ones so desire, memorial donations may be made to Special Olympics Canada, Scarborough Health Network Foundation, or Markham Stouffville Hospital. Jim’s family wishes to extend their gratitude to the staff of the Coronary Care Unit at Scarborough Centenary Hospital for the exemplary and compassionate care he received in his final days.

elevated pyaek Visitation will take place at Holy Cross Funeral Home (211 Langstaff Rd E, Thornhill, Ontario) on Tuesday, August 20 from 4:00 pm – 8:00 pm, with formal remarks about Jim taking place from 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm. Those in attendance who wish to say a few words about Jim are most welcome to speak at this time.

elevated pyaek Funeral mass will be held at Holy Cross Chapel with Fr. Sherwin Holandez presiding on Wednesday, August 21 at 10:30 am. A reception will follow in the same location. The mass will be streamed virtually for those who are unable to attend in person.

elevated pyaek Interment will take place at Christ the King Catholic Cemetery (7770 Steeles Ave E, Markham) following the reception. All who wish to attend are welcome.

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