Pioneer thrives in retirement after return to qathet region

Homegrown Jim Sawka, a man who grew up through harsh pioneering conditions, a broken family and foster care, turned 80 earlier this year. Rather than falling victim to his circumstances, he found a way to excel at anything and everything he put his energy toward.

Before he was born, Sawka’s father Nick moved to Parker Harbour, in Desolation Sound, as one of the first pioneers to the area. He worked as a fisher and built his family home on the sound before moving his family and belongings to Lund via a towed log raft. 

“Pioneers of that day knew rugged living conditions and suffered a lot of hardships,” said Sawka’s daughter, Deborah Coombs. “But this may be part of what contributed to Jim’s overcoming spirit.”

Although he grew up under challenging circumstances, Coombs said her father was determined to make something of his life.

As a young person, Sawka excelled at baseball, volleyball, track, basketball, soccer and floor hockey. In 1952 he was part of the division seven soccer all-star team that played in the Sun Golden Boy provincial tournament in Vancouver. In 1960, his senior volleyball team finished second in the provincial playdowns.

He wrote for his high school newspaper and later the Powell River News as a junior teen page editor. He graduated from Max Cameron Secondary School in 1961.

Sawka joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), graduating from pilot training right out of high school in 1962 before continuing into advanced training. He learned to fly T33 jets, practiced flying blind and flew in formations while completing acrobatics. He was one of nine Canadians who graduated, and one of three students who received fighter T33 jet postings to be a flight instructor trainer for the RCAF. 

Two years after marrying his first wife, Eleanor, she passed away, leaving Sawka the single father of a one-year-old daughter. Putting his work with the air force on hold, he dreamed of becoming a commercial pilot. 

He worked at the Haslam Lake lumber mill and MacMillan Bloedel mill to make money while studying for his commercial flying licence. Unfortunately, once he earned that licence, he discovered the pay would not be enough to support his family, so he made a new plan. 

Sawka worked different jobs, married again, had a son and lived in BC, Northwest Territories and Alberta. During this time, he continued writing and even started a small community newspaper in Tungsten, NWT, called the Tungsten Tongue. 

He continued playing team sports, as well as golf and curling, and excelled at them. He even hit a grand slam in a Tungsten ball tournament.

“That was an exciting moment for him,” said Coombs.

While living in the NWT, he started a landscape and contracting business, was a master rock-work craftsman, did contract work for the NWT government, and was very involved in his community. He founded a wood-heat store called Alternate Energy, where he was an installer, inspector and instructor of wood heat systems.

Happy at home

In 2007, Sawka returned to the qathet region to settle in and retire with his wife Suzanne. 

“He always wanted to come back and settle down in Powell River,” explained Coombs. “It was just in his blood that this was his home.”

Today, at 80, he plays golf weekly and is a highly competitive member of the Powell River Curling Club. Rarely comes a day when he doesn’t walk the local forests and lake beaches, according to his daughter, while secretly volunteering hundreds of hours clearing the walkways of rocks, fallen trees and branches, picking garbage and creating a nice and safe path for people.

“No one knows, as he will rarely share what he does when asked, as he does this without seeking recognition,” said Coombs. “He is always trying to leave it better than he found it.” 

Sawka is an artist and poet, but his main hobby is collecting driftwood, cleaning it up and bringing out the beauty of the hidden figure in each piece. He has given more than 100 sculptures away as gifts to family, friends and anyone who has an interest in them. 

“I don’t think he dreamed [retirement] would ever be this great,” added Coombs. “It’s just that rewarding, and it makes me so happy to see him living what he never even dreamed could be possible.

“It’s amazing what being born and raised in such a good town can bring about in a person’s life.”