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Jean Shirley Kopstein may have been married to a judge and raised three children, but she carved out a career as a leader herself.
Jean, who was 91 when she died Jan. 11, was born on Valentine’s Day in Montreal and known to her family as Shaney.
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Her family had been forced to move to Montreal from Winnipeg after her father, a garment worker, became blacklisted in that industry by organizing a union.
When she was only five years old, her family moved back to Winnipeg and she grew up in the North End.
Jean was in her second year of studies at the University of Manitoba when she met the man who would become her husband — Bobby — who the family says was “the light of her life.” He went on to become a lawyer and later a provincial court judge.
(Full disclosure: I knew Judge Kopstein, during his days as a judge, and every time my wife and I would talk to him, he would always smile and describe his wife as “his beloved.”)
Jean followed her mother’s footsteps and graduated as a teacher in 1954, the couple married shortly after the graduation, and she began teaching at Sir John Franklin School for a few years before deciding to stay home to raise her family. Well, not completely — she still acted as a substitute teacher at times, marked high school English papers, and took courses in group dynamics.
Some years later, after all her children were back in school, Jean went back to work, but this time as a counsellor with the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba.
But, as Jean said in her story in the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba’s Endowment Book of Life, “My background as a teacher, however facilitated a change in my career path.”
Jean went on to work in staff development, training and addiction prevention, becoming an adult education specialist, before joining the Manitoba Department of Corrections as director of staff development and training, instructing workers how to work with a variety of offenders.
Then, in 1982, Jean was seconded by the province to set up and establish the Manitoba Women’s Directorate, a government agency which promotes gender equality and women’s rights and is now called Women and Gender Equity Manitoba.
For the next two years, Jean developed structures to integrate women’s concerns in government decision making, while also working on policy issues and creating a five-year strategy plan. Afterwards, she returned to corrections until retiring in 1996.
Through the years, Jean was also a member of the National Council of Jewish Women and a board member of the Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University.
As Jean said, in her closing remarks in the Book of Life, “I hope there will come a time when women can walk outside at night without fear, and when children can play on our streets in safety. Also, my hope is that there will be peace in Israel.
“I wish our community well.”
Jean was predeceased by her husband in 2014. She is survived by her two daughters and one son, four grandchildren, a great-granddaughter, and two brothers.
Read more about Jean.
How They Lived
Brian Bell was the province’s top prosecutor when he retired in 2016.
Brian, who was 66 when he died Jan. 19, was a member of the Canadian Armed Forces, seeing duty in West Germany with the Royal Canadian Dragoons before joining the Second Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry and reached the rank of lieutenant. With that unit, Brian served in the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus in 1982-83.
He graduated from law school and was called to the Bar in 1991, and joined the Crown’s office where he went on to prosecute numerous cases, including the first trial of Mark Grant accused of the murder of Candice Derksen.
He later joined the founding board of Candice House.
Read more about Brian.
Maartje (Marty) Slyker was brave.
Marty, who died Jan. 18 at 97 years of age, grew up in the Netherlands and during the Second World War she was able to stop soldiers from taking her dad to a work camp.
That’s not all: she carried notes in her shoes for the underground and helped her aunt care for three Jewish girls hiding in their attic.
She trained as a nurse in the Netherlands and later came to Canada with her husband.
When Marty decided to go back to being a nurse when she was 41, and attained her LPN and then became an RN, she had to convince St. Boniface Hospital to hire her because they told her she was “too old.” She went on to work as a nurse there for more than two decades.
Read more about Marty.
Keith Barber was a champion five-pin bowler.
Keith, who was 94 when he died Dec. 23, won both the Canadian and Western Canadian championships.
His 278 high average was the Manitoba record for 25 years and he represented Manitoba or Saskatchewan at the Western Canadian Five Pin Championships a record 22 times.
When not at a bowling alley, Keith worked at CP Rail for decades.
Read more about Keith.
Kathy Heffernan was in the swim.
Kathy, who died Jan. 13 at 61 years of age, had a career in consulting and management and owned her own firm.
She was also a volunteer for many years with water polo and served as president of both the Manitoba Water Polo Association and Bushido Water Polo for more than a decade and served as co-chair of both the national club championships for 16U Girls in 2012 and Senior Women in 2011.
Read more about Kathy.
Ian Turnbull believed staying fit was essential.
Ian, who was 90 when he died on Nov. 21, competed in cross country ski races, downhill skied, played tennis, ran four marathons, rollerbladed and during the 1970s he cycled to work.
What it didn’t say in his Passages obituary is job he was cycling to; an MLA in the province’s first NDP government and later a cabinet minister — including education — in Ed Schreyer’s government.
Read more about Ian.
Eloise Johnston was a teacher who worked during another era.
Eloise, who died Dec. 24 at 89 years of age, received her Bachelor of Education at the University of Manitoba and began her career teaching children with special needs and then elementary school kids.
She taught numerous children through the years and, after retiring and because her husband was also a teacher, she became president of both the Schoolmasters’ Wives Association and the Retired Women Teachers’ Association.
Read more about Eloise.
A Life’s Story
To many Manitobans, Gerard Lecuyer was a cabinet minister in the Howard Pawley government, serving as environment minister.
But, in the local French community, Gerard was a giant in Canadian bilingualism.
Gérard Lécuyer served as environment minister in addition to other roles during his political career. (Supplied)
Gerard was instrumental in the creation of la Division scolaire franco-Manitobain, the province’s independent French school division, and with the landmark Reference re: Public Schools Act by the Supreme Court, mandating provinces to build and create French schools and school boards.
“My father definitely believed in a bilingual province in a bilingual country,” his daughter Michele Lecuyer-Hutton said.
Read more about Gerard’s life.
Until next time, I hope you continue to write your own life’s story.
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