Janet Prentice (Paton) Thornton

Janet Thornton (nee Bulloch) was born in Scotland on March 28, 1925. She grew up in a family with her parents and three siblings. Her father instilled in her a great love and appreciation for Clydesdale horses. She was just a teenager when the Second World War broke out. Through the eyes of a teenager this was a terrifying time. During the war years she worked long hours in a hotel owned by a relative.

On February 2, 1944, she married James Reid Paton, a Canadian soldier, serving in Europe with the Winnipeg Rifles. After the war she emigrated to Canada to join her husband and his parents on a farm in SE Saskatchewan. With the money she had saved she was able to make the downpayment on a farm of their own. She came from electric lights and porcelain toilets to lanterns and out houses. During their farming years they experienced many crop failures due to inclement weather. Nevertheless, she persevered and together she and her husband had 5 children, the first of which died soon after childbirth. She was widowed at 37 years of age when her husband died of cancer. She would go on to marry two more times and in each case her husband preceded her in death. In addition to her husbands and infant son she also experienced the death of all but one of her siblings, an adult son, a son-in-love (beloved son-in-law), and a granddaughter.

Janet is a grandmother to 12, a great grandmother to 21 and a great grandmother to 1. Her home was always a welcome place with ample food and a place of rest for any of her family members, her many friends, and even strangers.

Despite the hardships of life and the many losses she experienced she had a reputation for being a woman who was always well dressed and a wonderful storyteller. She loved to garden and to volunteer in her church. Janet was sought out for her advice, and she had a ready ear for godly advice to anyone who asked for it. If you were a friend of Janet, you had a strong and true friend in your life.

Throughout her life her faith in Jesus Christ as her Savior and Lord never wavered. For the last nine years of her life, she lived in The Berwick in Victoria, BC where she was active in bible study and prayer meetings. At the age of 95 she and another resident started a care and prayer ministry. One family member had the privilege of listening to her praying when she did not know anyone (other than God was listening). This prayer was described as resembling a conversation with God and the experience of listening in on this interaction left a lasting impression. One of her last acts of ministry was to pray a prayer of blessing over a 17-year-old great grandson.

Janet changed her address to heaven around 7:00 am on Wednesday, May 10, 2023. Her heart was weak, her knees were not working properly, and she had difficulty seeing but none of these ailments impacted her mind until shortly before she moved to heaven. Even a few weeks before her death she was able to recall stories and events with amazing accuracy and detail even back to her life as a child.

Janet will be missed by all who knew her, but she was well prepared for heaven. If she could give one last piece of advice it would be to encourage all who remain to get prepared for eternity. And just maybe she would also say: “Hard work never killed anybody.”

A memorial service for Janet will be held at Berwick Royal Oak, 4680 Elk Lake Drive Victoria, BC at 1:30pm on Sunday May 21, 2023. The service will be streamed on Facebook and YouTube. Later in the summer a graveside service will be conducted in Oxbow, SK.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.firstmemorialsaanich.com for the Thornton family.