Thomas Elliot Watson

Tom was born in Acton in October 1922, only child to R. Perriman Watson dairy owner (WW1) and Elizabeth Elliot. Tom was raised in Acton and attended the nearest high school in Georgetown.

Tom joined the RCAF in September 1940 after an aborted attempt to join the army a month earlier when his parents called in a favour to have the army recruiter reject him as being too young (18 was the minimum age). Tom attended basic training as an RCAF in northern Ontario and Manitoba and then shipped to Sydney Nova Scotia where he met Irene “Rene” Fulton. Tom shipped to England in late 1943 and landed in France four days after D Day, where he was attached to a mobile Air Force Surgical Unit (similar to MASH, but with the Air Force instead of the Army).

Upon Tom’s return to Acton in 1946, his mother arranged for Rene to come and visit him. The couple were married in the Presbyterian Manse on Willow St. on July 21, 1947. Their first son Bob was born the next year followed by five more children, Dave, Anne, Jane, Mary and John. Tom took over the running of the Dairy Bar aka Watson’s Restaurant, as his father was ill with cancer, caused by being gassed in WW1. Tom owned the restaurant until 1971. He was also a long-time member of the Acton Board of Education and the first elected Acton representative of the Halton Board of Education in the mid 60’s, a position he proudly held until 1976.

Tom and Rene moved into 44 Church St. East in Acton in 1949 and lived there until 1970 when they moved above the restaurant at 11 Mill St. East for a few months before renting at 197 Burbank Dr for a few years, finally settling at 153 Tidey Ave.

Tom died in 1995 and is buried at Fairview Cemetery in Acton.

Truly a Canadian Hero. His Story Lives on. *Submitted to Homes of Heroes Halton Hills by John Watson