Community activist.
Born at Winnipeg on 25 June 1922 to Caroline Dorothy Kimbley (1892-1952) and Joseph Murray Dewar (1884-1956), he grew up on Toronto Street in the city’s West End, and attended Hugh John Macdonald School. In 1937, he joined the Winnipeg Grenadiers as a bugler in the non-combat militia reserves. When Canada joined the Second World War, he enlisted for active duty with the Winnipeg Grenadiers. They spent one and a half years in Jamaica preparing for the tropical climate of Hong Kong. After being deployed to Hong Kong on 16 November 1941, they were captured Christmas Day that year, and spent the next three years and eight months as prisoners of war in extremely harsh conditions.
In 1945, he returned to Winnipeg and began working for the Lawrie Wagon and Carriage Company, which by then had transitioned to manufacturing mostly truck bodies. On 18 October 1947, he married Mary Eizabeth Crouch (1921-2013), whom he had gotten to know in high school, and they went on to have two children. Meanwhile, after almost losing some of his fingers in an accident at his place of work, he decided to find another profession and, in 1950, joined the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. He worked there until his retirement in 1983 as Supervisor of the Central Mailroom.
He and his wife were active members of the Fort Garry Legion #90, where he held many positions, including President for four years. While serving in this position, he was instrumental in implementing By-Laws in the Branch, which had previously been unenforced. As a member devoted to the aims and objectives of the Royal Canadian Legion, he was honoured as Legionnaire of the Year, awarded the Certificate of Merit, and In 1975, received a Life Membership Award. In May 1993, he received the Palm Leaf Meritorious Service medal, the highest award granted to Life, Ordinary or Associate voting members who have rendered continuous outstanding service to the cause of the Royal Canadian Legion. On 19 August 2012, he received a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.
He spent summers with the family at Grand Beach, until selling the cabin in 1978 and turning to travelling with his wife, enjoying places such as Hawaii and Las Vegas, and taking ocean cruises and bus tours. He was active in curling and bowling for Legion and CIBC teams, and followed hockey, football, and baseball. Because he and Mary were season ticket holders for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for over 50 years, they were honored by the Bombers club by being presented with an autographed football.
He died at Winnipeg on 28 December 2013 and was buried in the Chapel Lawn Memorial Gardens.
Birth registration [Thomas Dewar], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“Ottawa lists 289 freed prisoners of Hong Kong,” Winnipeg Free Press, 13 September 1945, page 2.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 4 January 2014.
“Thomas Dewar,” SC(CK) Family Tree, Ancestry.
Thomas Dewar, FindAGrave.
This page was prepared by Lois Braun.
Page revised: 4 November 2026
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