05/20/2026
William (‘Bill’) Douglas Hawkins, passed away May 16, 2026, after almost 86 years of exuberant, joyful living and tending to all the people and things that he loved.
Born August 27, 1940 in Collingwood Ontario to William Randolph Hawkins and Hilda Dorothy (Janzen) Hawkins, Bill grew up side-by-side his cousin, Claire (Hawkins) Bell in Stayner, Ontario. Each only children for several years, the two were closer than siblings, and continued to be after the birth of his brother Robert Gordon Hawkins and her sister, Sylvia (Hawkins) Alkema. Bill and Claire were theatre kids before that was the name for it, including acting as Higgins and Eliza in a high school production of Pygmalion. Bill also spent time riding his bike through Stayner and the countryside, and for over a quarter-century from his pre-teen years onward owned and entrepreneurially-tended a quarter acre of strawberries and raspberries (‘the garden’). Additional early jobs later included delivering milk, cleaning the offices of the Noisy River Telephone Company, and, especially, working for the Ontario Department of Lands and Forests at the Devil’s Glen Provincial Park.
After the honour of being selected Valedictorian for the Collingwood District Collegiate Institute’s Class of 1959, Bill went to the University of Toronto for both his undergraduate and graduate English degrees and to the Ontario College of Education in Toronto to train as a teacher. He remained very attached to the University College Campus, particularly the beautiful UC quadrangle and Philosopher’s Walk, to which he introduced two successive generations of family members.
In 1968, Bill married Sandra (‘Sandy’) Anne (Palmer) and the two have been happily inseparable ever since, raising two children, Miranda and William (‘Bill Jr’), and making a beautiful home full of light, books and greenery in Alliston, walking distance from Banting Memorial High School where “Mr. Hawkins” taught for over thirty years, famously standing on desks to deliver scenes from Shakespeare and encouraging his students to look out the classroom window. In the years since his retirement, Bill enjoyed encountering his former students as adults in local stores and businesses, or whizzing past them on his bicycle as they enthusiastically called out “Hawk!”.
A firm environmentalist, Bill believed in not needing or spending much, but in appreciating all that he had, including homemade espresso and good food, going on long walks, gardening with Sandy, tending to the fish and frogs in their pond, watching the bulbs come up every year, and counting robins and red-winged blackbirds every spring. He famously hated winter, except when he was tobogganing down the hill behind the house which he did with exuberance into his final year, either with the kids or grandkids, or getting Sandy to record his descent to show them. When they could, he and Sandy made economical escapes to Madeira and Vancouver to savour the warmer weather, flowers and hiking trails. Every early fall until he was 84, he executed an annual bike ride from Alliston to Stayner and back, a distance of nearly 100 km in a single day.
Bill encouraged his kids and grandkids to read, write, wonder, climb trees, ride bikes and to swing under the willow tree at the family’s home in Alliston. He also urged them to save money, use proper grammar, and get good sleep—some lessons stuck better than others. A faithful father-in-law to Lawrence Hill and Angela (Cerovic) Hawkins, and a devoted and involved grandparent to Miranda’s children and stepchildren, Evangeline and Beatrice Freedman, Genevieve, Caroline and Andrew Hill. As they grew up, he embraced the stories of their studies and adventures, and in recent years welcomed their partners, Justin Moir, Alex Sykes, Nik Luhmann-Krushnisky, and Emma Arsenault. Nothing delighted him more than the 2016 arrival of Bill Jr. and Angela’s daughter Poppy, and the opportunity to “do it all again.” He was always curious, amazed and complimentary of his grandchildren’s accomplishments, and enjoyed and embraced time with each of them and his children. But by far his favourite person to be with at any time was Sandy, who he deeply loved and cherished, and lovingly described as “an angel”.
Through the course of his life, Bill also deeply appreciated his close relationship with his brother Robert (deceased 2017), and Robert’s partner Nancy Fung, Similarly, Bill deeply valued his relationships with extended family, his longtime friends, and special neighbours whose kindness can never be repaid.
Bill’s final resting place will be at Alliston Union Cemetery. Bill would be happy just to be remembered with fondness, but in lieu of flowers Sandy and the Hawkins family would welcome donations in his memory to the Nature Conservancy of Canada (www.natureconservancy.ca).
