Obituary of Arthur Jahnke

Arthur Leon Jahnke, was born July 29, 1917 on the farm, land location 16-19-11-3 to Gustav and Sadie (Wiens) Jahnke, the first of 12 children, predeceased by only 1 sibling, Lawrence. In the Fall of 1920 they moved to the farm west of Herbert. He attended Bethania School and Herbert High school. He was baptized on confession of faith and became a member of the Herbert Mennonite Conference Church. From 1938 to 1942 he attended Bethel College obtaining his BA Degree and enjoyed singing the Messiah in a mass choir for 4 years. He was the first one from Sask. to do alternative service overseas; and was asked to serve with MCC in Cairo, Egypt; then the heel of Italy, and the Torino area for 2 ½ years before returning home to his waiting Katherine. They were married Dec.8, 1948 and were asked to serve in MCC, in South America, settling 750 refugees from WW II. Two years later another 450 refugees came and were settled. There first 2 children Joyce and Charles were born in Montevideo, Uruguay. After working there for 5 ½ years, the family took a long boat trip to Europe, then New York and a train ride home. They settled south of Herbert on the farm. He attended the Mennonite Conference Church where he served as Church Chairperson for 13 yrs., taught the German Sunday School class and sang in the choir. This was also the beginning of his farming, tree planting and turkey raising years. Soon after, Krista and Marti were born in the Herbert Hospital. Following many years of hard work on the farm, Art was encouraged to go back to University. At 54 yrs. of age he Convocated from the University of Regina with his Bachelor of Education Degree. All of his teaching years were in Sask. beginning in Central Butte, then Cumberland House, Beauval, Green Lake and last AND quite interestingly at the Box Elder Hutterite Colony. School breaks and holidays gave him time to enjoy family on the ski slopes and /or tennis courts. Art and Katherine retired to there new home in Herbert in 1983. His retirement years were very enjoyable and blessed. From world travel (which almost always involved volunteer work), to enjoying an ever expanding circle of family and friends, Art was kept busy. His passion while at home was carried on by planting hundreds of trees, diligently working to beautify the community and purify the environment. In his later years, he loved to read about various countries and dream about where he might travel next. In January, while still quite chipper, he asked Katherine if she might like to take a trip to the Ukraine this Spring? This certainly gave her reason to smile. Shortly after; he had numerous falls and was hospitalized with a fractured spine. After amazing improvement, the family brought him home on Feb. 28th. He spent a great 10 days at home with some of the family around making life interesting. On Sun. Mar. 15th he took a sudden turn, passing away peacefully at home in the early morning hours of March 16th. Art will be lovingly remembered by Katherine, his wife of 60 years; and his immediate family, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, siblings and many friends.