Jack Heinemann

March 17, 1939 – June 23, 2023

Jack was born John Charles Heinemann to John Albert Heinemann, an immigrant from England, and Mildred Heinemann (née Case), in Eston, Saskatchewan on March 17, 1939.

The eldest of three children in an aspirational working-class family, Jack grew up in Port Alberni, a booming industrial town on Vancouver Island, anchored by the forestry company MacMillan Bloedel. Sociable and empathetic, enterprising and energetic, with an unstinting work ethic, Jack began his entrepreneurial career at the age of 12 as a paperboy, swiftly expanding his customer base to 120 when he bought a second paper route off his friend Billy Blake. When he was 14 Jack picked up a weekend job at the Port Alberni pulp mill working in the boiler room for the lucrative wage of $2.79/hour.

A devoted son, Jack always helped his parents around the yard, preparing the garden, looking after the chickens and rabbits, and feeding the sawdust burner used to heat their home. He helped his father build Jack’s Service, a gas station and general store on Compton Road East, and worked there as a gas jockey, clerk and grocer (and later, when the store was expanded, a butcher). Using his earnings from the pulp mill Jack bought the first adding machine for the store and later the toilet, which replaced the bucket employees had used until that time.

He went on to do a variety of jobs: assistant to Fisheries Department biologist F.C. Boyd, who developed the Robertson Creek hatchery, which would become the largest artificial spawning channel in North America; apprentice pipe fitter; instrument mechanic; and a heavy-duty mechanic, first at the Franklin River Logging Division, then on the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii). By the time he was 20, he had his own paint and carpet store on 3rd Avenue, Port Alberni’s main street.

In 1963, at 24, Jack married Lenea Holm, moved to Chicago and successfully completed a year-long sign-writing course in six months. Upon returning to Port Alberni he was unable to find employment in this field and so, in typically resourceful fashion, he took a job in another line of work and began driving a logging truck for Borer Trucking in Port Hardy, an emerging town on the northern tip of Vancouver Island. Later, his wife and two young children joined him to live in a mobile home on the uncleared land of MacMillan Bloedel’s trailer site.

In 1971-72 he built a Dairy Queen fast food restaurant in Cache Creek during one of the coldest winters, when temperatures fell to -10º C. Even after falling off the roof and breaking two ribs, he persevered and finished fitting the building in time for an Easter opening.

Over the next 45 years, in partnership with his wife Lenea, Jack owned and operated, and often built or renovated, 12 Dairy Queen restaurants: in Port Coquitlam, Williams Lake, Mission, Squamish, Gastown (Vancouver), Surrey, Langley, and two in the United States, Mount Vernon and Oak Harbor.

During this time he founded the construction company TJ Homes and built and sold 9 houses in the Vancouver Lower Mainland.

From the time he married Lenea until he moved to Qualicum Beach, Jack made his home in over 30 different towns and cities.

Throughout his life, despite working in so many jobs, running so many businesses and living in so many different places, he remained a devoted husband and father, supporting his wife through her university studies and teaching career, and providing his children with countless opportunities to travel and explore their interests.

Jack was a kind-hearted, generous, nurturing and deeply human person who inspired and supported others in their endeavours, even as he pursued his own.

Jack is survived by his wife, Lenea, his two children, Laurie Brazzill and David Heinemann, his brother, Terry Heinemann, and his sister Jean Heineman.

A Celebration of Life will be held in Jack’s honour at Yates Memorial Services, 1000 Allsbrook Road, Parksville, on Saturday, July 15, 2023 at 1:00 PM.

Please RSVP to [email protected] if you would like to join us at the Black Goose Inn (1051 Resort Drive, Parksville, V9P 2E4, at Beach Acres Resort) after the service for fish & chips (Jack’s favourite) and a pint.

Services:

CELEBRATION OF LIFE

Saturday

July 15, 2023

1:00 PM  

Yates Memorial Services

1000 Allsbrook Road

Parksville, BC V9P 2A9