As the one-year anniversary of popular local high school teacher Jack Frimeth’s passing is approaching, he will be celebrated as a teacher, football coach and avid canoeist by friends and family.
A celebration of life will be held Sunday, May 22, 2022 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at 635 Woodlawn Rd. East in a barn on the property. Members of the community are welcome to drop-in. People are encouraged to come early to hear speeches and music. The family has asked those who wish to attend to RSVP by May 10 by emailing [email protected].
Jake (Jacob) Frimeth, Jack's eldest son said it is important for his family and friends of his dad to get together to celebrate what his dad was able to accomplish in 67 years.
The Frimeth family was able to have a small graveside funeral but was not able to have a large gathering in 2021 because of COVID restrictions.
Frimeth was a teacher at Centre Wellington District High School for many years. While he was there he started an Indigenous club where he would bring students from the high school to Indigenous communities in British Columbia and Newfoundland and Labrador. He would then bring students in those communities to Ontario to see sites like Niagara Falls.
At the time of his death due to a canoe accident he was teaching at a remote Cree community in Northern Quebec.
“He wanted to give his time and energy back to the students he taught,” his son said. "He didn’t have a lot growing up and raised himself with the help of his community."
Jake said he thinks this is what stuck with his dad and why he gave back to kids he saw himself in.
Frimeth also previously served as an assistant football coach at Western and McMaster universities. He also helped out with the Guelph Bears Minor Football team.
Jake said one of his fondest memories of his dad is when they won the Vanier Cup in 2017, Jake as a player and his dad as assistant coach with Western.
“It was almost like a storybook ending for us to win that together and share that moment,” he said.
When he was younger Frimeth was known as the little drummer boy because he marched to the beat of his own drum, and he tried to cross off everything on his bucket list, said Jake.
He said he will always remember the canoe trips his dad took him and his younger brother Dan on in remote locations when they were seven and five years old.
