Westport Lions Club

Westport Lions new member Glen Wilcox enjoying the outdoors.

Westport Lions Roar

By Lion Bob Reddick

Lion Glenn Wilcox spent the first 18 years of his life on a farm between Toronto and Barrie.  Glenn’s father, who is now 95 and still lives in his own home, earned his pilot licence in 1960 and bought a small plane in 1971.  This enabled Glenn to learn to fly at a young age and obtain his pilot’s licence at 16. “I was able to build up flying hours,” Glen says, “for the price of oil and gas.”   

Glenn spent a few years working at various jobs in the Midland area to save money and work towards obtaining his commercial pilot licence.

After attending Fanshawe College in London, Glenn began a career of almost 28 years in commercial aviation, retiring in 2018 to the Westport area. 

Why did Glenn and his wife Linda decide to move to Westport in 2017? At the time, Glenn was a pilot for Jazz Airline, Air Canada’s largest regional partner.  The company decided to move the fleet of planes that Glenn was trained on from Toronto to Montreal.  Glenn was given the choice to re-train and learn to fly another plane or move to Montreal.  Since he only had a year until retirement, he decided to transfer to Montreal.  He was used to a long commute from London to Toronto, so, for him commuting from Westport to Montreal was a pleasant drive.  Glenn and Linda searched for a location that would allow Glenn to commute to Montreal and make a good retirement home.  Beautiful Westport, with access to boating, checked all the boxes on their wish list. 

His volunteer experience has included helping with a monthly breakfast for the needy at his church in London and as an auxiliary constable for five years with the London police force.

Glenn joined the Westport Lions Club to continue his volunteerism and as an opportunity to meet new people in a different area of the province.  Glenn has already proven that he is willing to do jobs that many people refuse to do by volunteering to clean the washrooms at the beach.  The Westport Lions welcomes Glenn and Linda to Westport and the Westport Lions Club.