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Joachim Jahne could have received the death penalty if he’d left his new home in Manitoba and gone for a long weekend south of the border.
Joachim, who was 80 when he died on Nov. 30, wasn’t a draft dodger — rushing to Canada to forgo serving in the American military — during the Vietnam War. He was an actual deserter, one of an estimated 1,000 Americans already in the military who fled north because they either didn’t want to fulfill their first tour in Vietnam or make a return to the war-torn region.
The punishment could have been the death penalty or a lengthy jail term.
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None of the deserters has been pardoned. In fact, a man from B.C., who deserted almost 40 years before, was arrested while on his way for a vacation in Reno, Nev., in 2006.
But Joachim went through his own suffering almost five decades ago, unable to return to the country he had lived in since he was nine. His parents had immigrated to the United States from Germany.
Joachim went to high school in St. Paul, Minn., before going to Macalester College, majoring in German.
He taught at a high school in Sturgis, S.D., before joining the Air Force and becoming a base photographer at Chicopee, Mass.
During that time, Joachim was driving his blue Porsche when he picked up a hitchhiker. He was so smitten with the woman that he proposed marriage on their first date, and they wed three weeks later. They had just recently celebrated 55 years together.
It wasn’t long after that Joachim, ordered to go to Vietnam to take photos of bombing sites, made the tough decision to desert. The couple and their infant son quickly moved to Winnipeg.
Here, Joachim took up teaching again and became a well-loved teacher at several schools, including Andrew Mynarski and Isaac Brock.
Joachim owned a hardware store for a short time, became a theatre inspector for the Manitoba Film Board and a liquor inspector, and, with his wife, opened the Good Wool Shop. He also made the first batch of Virginia’s Soap on the couple’s wood cookstove and created the soap-making equipment for their company which sells its product across North America.
Joachim is survived by his wife and son, as well as two granddaughters and several nieces and nephews in the United States and Germany.
Read more about Joachim.
How They Lived
Joyce Aitken was working as a private secretary when she made the bold decision to change careers.
That’s when Joyce, who was 96 when she died on Nov. 29, decided to become a teacher.
She taught math for many years to high school students in the St. James-Assiniboia School Division.
Read more about Joyce.
Ted Higgins spent 35 years in jail — but he came home every night.
Ted, who died on Sept. 10 at 92, was able to tell that joke because he worked as a corrections officer.
He started at the old Vaughan Street Jail and ended his career at Headingley Correctional Centre.
Read more about Ted.
Jim Mitchell was a second-generation pharmacist who owned Mitchell’s Drug Store in Roblin for almost four decades.
Jim, who died on Nov. 21, owned the pharmacy with his name on it from 1973 to 2011. He also volunteered for numerous local organizations, including the Asessippi Ski Hill, Kinsmen and the Chamber of Commerce.
And, like his dad before him, he was honoured with the Manitoba pharmacy association’s prestigious Bowl of Hygeia award in 2002.
Read more about Jim.
Ken Naumko was a bass player who made his mark on the city’s music scene.
Ken, who was 56 when he died on Nov. 7, played bass guitar in several bands, including Elixir Frenzy.
He and his brother became good friends with the members of rock band Nazareth and their road crew.
Read more about Ken.
Richard Johnson was the University of Manitoba’s first graduate in engineering physics.
Richard, who died on Nov. 30 at 91, graduated in 1954 and a year later was hired as an assistant professor in the University of Manitoba’s electrical engineering department. Eleven years later he made professor, and between 1973 and 1976 was head of the department.
He also was instrumental in creating Graduate Studies and Research in Engineering and serving on both the university’s board of governors and senate.
Richard was appointed Provost in 1977 and held that position, and others at that level, for the next 21 years. He was honoured by the Winnipeg School Division in 1996 as “an individual who made a difference”.
Read more about Richard.
Dr Farid-Uddin Shariff healed many Winnipeggers.
Farid, who was 88 when he died on Nov. 27, received his medical training in Bangladesh, finished his internship in Regina, and then received additional training in Edinburgh.
At one point, in 1964, he was the only doctor in Dawson City, Yukon.
Farid came to Winnipeg and spent the next 42 years working in orthopedics.
Read more about Farid.
A Life’s Story
Who better to teach astronomy at the university level than Copernicus himself.
Prof. Martin Clutton-Brock not only taught the course at the University of Manitoba but made sure the experience was memorable for students by wearing costumes while giving his lectures. His portrayals included Copernicus, the Polish mathematician and astronomer, as well as Galileo, Tycho Brahe and Newton.
“He was, without any hyperbole, the best professor I ever had,” former student Chris Rutkowski said about Clutton-Brock.
(SUPPLIED) University of Manitoba professor Martin Clutton-Brock, seen here portraying the astronomer Copernicus, died in July at the age of 90.
“He made the subject really come alive — literally. It was an amazing way to gain insight into how scientific principles were discovered.”
To read more about Clutton-Brock’s life, visit this link.
Until next time, I hope you continue to write your own life’s story.
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