Donald Deacon - Later Life

Later Life

Deacon moved to Prince Edward Island in 1981, where he was the founder and chair of Atlantic Canada's first venture capital fund, Atlantic Ventures Trust. He also continued his passion as an active volunteer, becoming president of the PEI Red Cross, national commissioner for Scouts Canada, and founding president of Rail-to-Trails PEI. He chaired the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council, served as a member of the board of Mount Allison University (the alma mater of his grandfather Henry Emmerson), and was an early and active member of the Trans Canada Trail board of directors. Deacon's signature can be found on the certificates issued to Canadians who supported the Trans Canada Trail by donating $35.00 to "buy a metre" of the Trail, one of the Trail's earliest fundraising efforts.

In 1987, Deacon was made a member of the Order of Canada. In 2003, he was presented with the Order of Prince Edward Island and was promoted to officer of the Order of Canada.

Exactly one week prior to his death in September 2003, Deacon was interviewed by Shelagh Rogers on CBC Radio's Sounds Like Canada. It was the first in her series about Order of Canada recipients. During the moving interview, which Rogers often replayed as one of her favorites, Deacon recounted a conversation he had with a close friend in the final days of World War II. They were waiting as the infantry cleared out a machine gun nest along the road ahead and asked one another what they could do to prevent a recurrence of the horrible waste of life they had just survived. The two men agreed that all they could do was to go home, raise a family of caring individuals, contribute to the lives of others in their communities, and encourage everyone to travel the world so they could experience and gain respect for other cultures and people. Their conversation ended when they were given the all clear. Deacon's friend climbed back into his Scout car, proceeded down the road and was killed instantly as he passed over an anti-tank mine. The war ended two days later. Deacon carried that conversation with him throughout his life.