Eclectic lover of life, sometime spy, fervent great-grandfather. Born April 24, 1917, in Laird, Sask. Died March 1, 2011, in Victoria of congestive heart failure, aged 93.
John Doerksen had no head start in life. He was one of four children of John and Mary Doerksen. His family struggled during the Depression, giving up their farm and moving to the Mennonite town of Laird, Sask., so his father could take a job as the school janitor.
While John loved hockey and baseball (both of which he played well into middle age), a great high-school teacher instilled in him a love for reading and learning that stayed with him his 93 years of life.
In 1935, John left home and rode the rails, finding work as a ranch hand in Alberta, lumberjack in Manitoba and timber surveyor along the shores of Lake Superior. In 1937, he hopped a boxcar back to Winnipeg and signed up with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, beginning a 30-year career that led him through Second World War Europe, then Washington, West Berlin and much of Canada. During his three years in Berlin, he worked for BRIXMIS, an elite British intelligence-gathering unit.
John met Maudie Brommell on a blind date in Winnipeg in 1939. When he returned to Canada in 1943 to become a commissioned officer, they married. Kenn, Greg, Bruce and Joan were born in Winnipeg, Washington, Ottawa and Calgary, typical of a military family.
John retired as a lieutenant-colonel in 1967 and, with Maudie, Bruce and Joan, set out across Canada with a small trailer. On reaching Kelowna, B.C., they bought a house and settled in. John was hired by the newly founded Okanagan College in 1968, becoming its bursar and dean of administrative services. He retired in 1979.
John's enthusiasm, infectious smile and genuine interest in anyone he met were always evident. He was an active Rotarian, acted in a Kelowna Little Theatre production, served in the choir and on many committees of his local Presbyterian church and was an avid member of the Kelowna Golf and Country Club. He took lessons in oil painting, becoming surprisingly competent.
John and Maudie travelled frequently. At Christmas, you could see the extent of their many friendships around the world in the nearly 200 cards hanging in their entrance hall. When Maudie suffered a heart attack and subsequent broken hip, John took over cooking and housekeeping. After her death in 2006, John moved to Victoria the following year to be near his daughter Joan, a nurse. He lived in a retirement residence, continuing to do the daily crossword, playing cribbage with Joan and charming residence staff until his last days. John was a true gentleman, always well-dressed, courteous to a fault, with immaculate handwriting and pride in his demeanour. They don't make them like him any more.
By Kenn Doerksen, John's son.