After completing his education in 1959, Jack Houston worked at Clement’s Drug Store in Brandon for one year, until he returned to Boissevain. That was when Houston Drugs became Houston and Son. The two would work together from 1960 until Doug’s later retirement, with Jack taking on presidency of the business in 1970. He was honoured with the A.H. Robins Award for service in pharmacy in 1985, exactly 20 years after his father. The pharmacist couple of Brent and Jill Hazlewood would become a part of the drug store, buying it in 1992.
Jack married Myrna Gail Dakin in 1962 and they had three children, all raised in Boissevain.
Pharmacy was not the only avenue in which Jack would follow his father. As Doug served on Boissevain Council and as mayor, so would Jack. The younger Houston became Boissevain Mayor in 1980 after four years as a councillor. He would serve in that capacity until 1989, when he retired and was replaced by the late Ed Anderson.
During his time as mayor, Boissevain and the RM of Morton celebrated their centennial of settlement in 1981, the community would join the Manitoba Main Street program, the Moncur Gallery would be built, a new town sign was erected and both the mural project and town beautification would begin.  
Houston was also president of the Lions Club, the Boissevain and District Chamber of Commerce, Turtle Derby Committee, the various hockey, curling and baseball clubs – he was a well-regarded member of the old Boissevain Border Kings ball team – and the Masonic Lodge.
The family kept a cottage on Arbour Island at Lake Max. When they left Boissevain for Kelowna in 1994, they would return in the summers, with Jack being a common sight behind the pharmacist counter in Hazlewood Drugs, allowing long-time residents a bit of a “blast from the past.”
With the passing of Jack Houston, the last mayor of the original Town of Boissevain is now gone. David Stead and Judy Swanson have both headed the amalgamated Municipality of Boissevain-Morton.
His wife Myrna, children Maureen, Michael and Phillip, grandchildren and other relatives, survive Houston. The Recorder expresses sympathy to all family and friends of Jack Houston.

by PAUL RAYNER, Recorder staff