Jack was born in the Netherlands and came to Canada at the age of 13, in 1951. He went to school in Montreal, and graduated from Loyola College with a B Sc in Math and Physics. He spent most of his career working for Bell Canada.
Jack married Jackie in 1961. Jackie comes from a Quebec family, and the de Jongs still own a farm in Quebec. Jackie loves to grow things, and continues that practice in Lantzville, maintaining a large vegetable garden and selling the surplus.
In 1976, Jack handled communications for the Olympics, and supervised a staff of 1100. 1978 saw Jack heading to Saudi Arabia, where he spent 10 years managing the upgrading of telecommunications. He was seconded by the Saudi royal family for a time to bring their cellular and satellite communications up to current standards. He also did some work in Pakistan during this time.
Jack returned to Canada in 1988, and continued working in management for Bell in Toronto. In 1989, his work took him to Australia, where the De Jongs lived in Melbourne. They were there until Jack retired in 1991.
While he was still working, Jack visited the west coast to see his parents in White Rock. He explored our little community and was so taken with it that he bought two neighbouring properties on Dickinson Road. After retirement, the de Jongs lived in the older home on one of the properties while Jack designed and built the new home they occupy today.
The de Jongs have family close at hand, with daughter Linda and her husband living on Lancrest Terrace, along with two grandchildren. Son Richard lives with his wife Melanie Dugas and two children, in the older home first occupied by his parents. Another daughter lives in Toronto.
Jack enjoys sailing, and has refurbished a sailboat which he has used to sail around Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlottes.
There are some challenges facing this community, and some that Jack would like to deal with are improving our water supply, providing more housing options to seniors and young people, revitalizing the village core and supporting small business. The urban agriculture issue that has created such controversy in Lantzville needs to be dealt with. Jack plans to take a cautious approach and ease some of the restrictions in the proposed by-law. He feels that much of the problem was a disagreement between neighbours that got out of hand.
Jack is optimistic about the future, and grateful for the wonderful support the community has shown him. He would like to be a down-to-earth mayor, with an open door at his office on Thursday afternoons, so that residents with concerns can access him easily
