SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A teacher, a businessman, a politician and a supporter of NWT sports, Robert Edwin Jenkins died Feb. 19 at the age of 83.

Robert Edwin Jenkins founded the NWT Teachers' Association, and was its president from 1970 to 1972. - NNSL file photo

Jenkins' family remembers him as a strong family man who was "generous, attentive, conservative and gentle."

Born in Oakwood, Ont., and raised on a farm, Jenkins married his wife, Olga, at age 20, and they raised five children together in Toronto, where he worked as a police officer for 10 years.

He moved north to Hay River in 1960 to begin a career as a teacher, a job that took him to Inuvik, Tuktoyaktuk and Yellowknife, where he introduced industrial arts to the Yellowknife public school and founded the NWT Teachers' Association. He was the association president from 1970 to 1972.

After teaching, he helped found Canarctic Graphics in 1972 and began a new life as a publisher. In 1985, Jenkins retired to an area near Colinton, Alta., where he farmed and raised draft horses.

Blake Lyons, director of Denendeh Investments Incorporated and a former city council member, remembers Jenkins for his good nature.

"Back in the 1980s I remember him through his involvement with the Canarctic Dusters hockey team. He was always there supporting us," said Lyons. "Normally if you asked somebody for money, they might shy away. Not Bob. Even if he was really busy, he would make time to help. He was a good man.

"He was also knowledgeable about a wide variety of things and I really respected him for that," said Lyons.

Jenkins is survived by his wife Olga, five children, and five grandchildren. An open house to celebrate his life will be held in Osoyoos, B.C., March 13.

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