Aydon Edward Altin Charlton

Aydon Edward Altin Charlton

November 21, 1948 – October 20, 2025

Aydon Charlton died in hospice with family at his side on October 20, 2025. He had a number of serious health issues but ultimately could not overcome the attack on his autoimmune system. He faced his end admirably.

Aydon leaves to mourn him his wife Merrilee Rasmussen, son Kai Charlton (Taylor Depuydt), stepdaughters Zena Charowsky (Mark Geldof) and Ciara McIlwaine (Chris Clarke), grandchildren Thian Clarke, Tynan Clarke, Tristan Blair, and Magdalena Clarke, and his brother John (Sharon) Charlton. He is also survived by his devoted friend, Bob McIlwaine, with whom he shared many trips to various places in the world and, more recently, grandfather duties. He was predeceased by his parents Phil and June Charlton and brother Brien Charlton.

Aydon was born and raised in Regina’s north end, attending Albert School and Scott Collegiate and then going on to the University of Regina (then the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus). He described himself as growing up in the shadow of Taylor Field (the original one, that is). Phil worked at the Saskatchewan Book Bureau during Aydon’s youth, and Aydon fondly recalled Phil bringing home deaccessioned books for his boys to read.

He loved the written word and he loved stories. He had an appreciation for good writing, and was dedicated to learning and helping others learn. He was instrumental in establishing a university literary magazine called The Sphinx, and the cover illustration was done by his high school and university friend, artist Lorne Beug. This seems to have inspired a life-long appreciation of sphinges (the plural of “sphinx” which he was always careful to use), as he amassed a collection of almost two dozen statues of various sizes over the years. He saw the real thing when he and Merrilee travelled to Egypt in late 2022.

He had a brief foray into the world of law. He was accepted to Osgoode Hall in 1978 as only one of two applicants from Saskatchewan. He quit after a few months, disgusted with the way the courts came to decisions that he felt were unfair. He often said later that it was easier to marry a good lawyer than to be one. Merrilee always felt complimented by that but was also a little embarrassed when he handed out her business card in the delivery room when Kai was born.

Early on he found a place in life with people who held similar convictions, ideas and ideals to suit his social conscience. He served as a public servant in the Blakeney and Romanow governments, working as a speech writer for Premier Allan Blakeney and for Roy Romanow as an executive assistant. He was part of the Saskatchewan team that negotiated the patriation of the Canadian Constitution with the federal government and the provinces in the early 1980s. Romanow also helped to entice him away from law school by pointing out that constitutional law would always be there, but constitutional politics was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He played an important role in delivering “the deal” put together by Romanow and Howard Leeson to Roy McMurtry at his hotel late at night, dodging security and the Quebec Minister who was trying to eavesdrop on his conversation at the public telephones. These were the days before ubiquitous cellphones and text messages.

He was a professor of English at the U of R for a number of years, teaching English 100 to perhaps thousands of students. He developed what he called his “culture quiz”, which was not a test of students’ knowledge but an effort to find out what books, movies, films, etc., every student in the class, as well as he as the teacher, had in common so that he could make understandable references when he spoke about literature. He was rather chagrined to discover that in a group of 35 students, the only thing they had in common was (at the time) the Simpsons and computers. He would often run into former students years later, several of whom visited him while he was in hospital. Merrilee recalls one of them telling her several years ago that Aydon was the best professor he ever had.

During his time at the U of R, Aydon also played a major role as part of the Faculty Association bargaining team to create the “Instructor” category in the collective agreement. This provided not just an increase in salary from that paid to sessional lecturers, but also security of employment – not quite tenure but an important improvement to the employment status of those in the category providing some employment benefits as well as the kind of job security that helps with things like mortgages.

Aydon was a scrupulous proofreader and an outstanding editor. He edited countless essays, journal articles, chapters, and books over the years, including Merrilee’s Governor General’s award-winning MA thesis and Ciara’s Governor General’s award-nominated MA thesis. During his lengthy hospital stay, he was still proofreading for his friends and colleagues.

Aydon had an extensive library. He intended to buy every book he saw on any topic he was interested in. He estimated that he had about 30,000 books. In fact, he and Merrilee bought the house next door to help house the library. The total weight of all of the books in his library is estimated at 45,000 lbs (or 5 elephants) and if the pages of all books were laid out end-to-end, they would stretch around the circumference of the Earth three times!

Aydon had diverse interests and lots of them; golf was one, travel another. He and Merrilee travelled with good friends to Turkey and Greece many times. He enjoyed golfing trips to Ireland and Scotland where he was thrilled to be able to play the Old Course. He discovered South America and its wonders and loved Montevideo, Uruguay, where he and Merrilee purchased an apartment. They shared that home with many friends as shelter from the often brutal Saskatchewan winters. Aydon invited everyone to come visit and many did.

In recent years, Aydon befriended the team at Montevideo’s Museo Andes 1972—a museum dedicated to remembering the 1972 crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571. Aydon found the survivors’ story inspiring, as they overcame obstacles through determination and creativity and co-operated with each other to try to survive the aftermath of the crash for 72 days in the Andes. He felt fortunate to have met Roberto Canessa, one of the two who walked out through the Andes in winter to find help to save the rest of the survivors, and who is now a pediatric oncologist in Uruguay. Aydon assisted the museum with translating exhibit labels from Spanish to English, one of the few museums in Montevideo that does so.

Merrilee is overwhelmed with the many communications she has received attesting to Aydon’s keen intelligence, sense of humour, and generosity, as well as his astute political observations. She relied on him to keep her aware of what was happening in the world and knowledgeably informed. The house is empty now.

A celebration of life will be held in spring 2026. Details to follow at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that you consider donating blood, if you are able, to Canadian Blood Services, or making a donation in his memory to the Museo Andes 1972, which Aydon loved (https://mandes.uy/en/donations/).

The family would like to thank the physicians, nurses, and staff on Units 3F and 6F at the Regina General Hospital for the incredible care Aydon received during his 11 weeks in hospital. Thank you also to the countless friends and family who spent many, many hours visiting him—you brought him great joy and companionship in his final weeks.