Tim Jones to be honoured with parade, memorial on Saturday

Tim Jones, the tireless leader of the North Shore Rescue team, will be honoured with a parade and memorial on Saturday morning in North Vancouver, following his unexpected death last Sunday.

Jones, best known as thespokesmanfor North Shore Rescue, died on Sunday evening after collapsing from sudden cardiac arrest on a trail near arescue cabin on Mount Seymour.

The 57-year-old had been a volunteer with the team since 1987, while also working as an advanced life-support paramedic and paramedic-in-charge for the B.C. Ambulance Service in North Vancouver.

Jones led North Shore Rescue for many years, building the organization to one of the premier volunteer rescue groups in the country, while saving countless lives in an estimated 2,000 rescues in the deceptively treacherous canyons and gullies of Vancouver's North Shore mountains.

Public invited to parade

The celebration of life will begin at 10:30 a.m. PT with a 90-minute honour parade starting at the Fell Armoury on 15th Street and Forbes Avenue and winding 14 blocks through North Vancouver's Lonsdale neighbourhood to Centennial Theatre.

Those planning to attend are encouraged to walk, bike or take the bus because road closures will be in effect around the parade route and Norseman Park.

There will be no public parking at the theatre parking lot, which will also be used as a landing area for four helicopters, including the 442 squadron military helicopter and RCMP Air 1, that assisted Jones and his team on so manylife-saving rescues.

The service inside the 600-seat theatre will be for invited guests only, but the public is encouraged to view the honour parade along its route and to watch the memorial service on large screens that will be set up outside the theatre.

At the familys request, donations in memory of Tim Jones can be made to the North Shore Rescue Team at www.northshorerescue.com.

Premier Christy Clarkpresented Jones with the Order of British Columbia in 2011.Jonesand his team were also recentlyfeatured in a documentary called To the Rescue, which premiered on CBC'sDoc Zonelast week.

• Watch Jones inTothe Rescueon CBC'sDoc Zone

Onhis LinkedIn profile page, Jones had writtenthat he haddedicated his life to becoming a helicopter rescue co-ordinator.

"Outside this, I have only one aspiration after this and that is to pay back my wife for time lost," Jones wrote.

Honour parade begins at 10:30 a.m.