Obituaries
WO (ret’d) Kenneth W. Atkinson
With heavy hearts we announce the passing of Ken, a dear husband and father. He fought a gallant fight with Pulmonary Fibrosis.
Ken was predeceased by his father Donovan, mother Ruth and his stepfather Bill. He leaves behind to mourn his wife Magdalene, daughter Candice, son Kenneth (Jennifer), three granddaughters, one brother, two sisters, nieces, nephews and cousins.
Ken served in the Canadian Military for 30 years. He enjoyed volunteer work, the great outdoors and had many hobbies. He will never be far from our hearts.
By Ken’s request there will be no service. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Vancouver General Hospital Lung Centre, www.thelungcentre.ca.
Online condolences to the family may be made to: www.wiebeandjeskefh.com
Please click here to see more photos of him in the RCEME Corps.
__________
Major William Francesco Lucano
December 5, 1926 – November 13, 2020
Korean War Veteran
Recipient of Queen’s Jubilee Medal
__________
Colonel (ret’d) Murray Johnston
19 May 1933 – 20 October 2020
Tribute to our dear Col Cmdt 1991-2004
This book is a collection of stories and photos from members (past and present) of the RCEME
Corps whose lives, in one way or another, were influenced by Col (Ret’d) Murray Johnston.
__________
Lieutenant-Colonel James Bower
20 February 1966 – 11 June 2020
__________
Corporal Aaron Michael St James
Corporal Aaron St James was born 20 April 1995 in Vancouver, British Columbia. He began his 7 year service to Canada on 26 March 2014. Following Basic training, he was posted first to the RCEME School at Canadian Forces Base Borden, and then to 1 Service Battalion at Canadian Forces Base Edmonton, to complete his Vehicle Technician training. Upon achieving his trade qualifications, Corporal St James was posted to the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry in Shilo, Manitoba in 2018. In June of 2019 he deployed to Latvia with the NATO Enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) Battle Group as part of Operation REASSURANCE, Rotation 19-02.
Throughout his career, Corporal St James proudly served the Army of the West. His pride in the RCEME Corps and his personal pride of serving the nation was evident to all who served with and knew him. The military and especially the RCEME Corps were more than a career to Corporal St James; his fellow soldiers were truly an extended family to him.
Corporal St James passed away on 27 April 2020 and is survived by his wife Joanna St James, his mother Heather MacDonald, his brother Special Constable Matthew St James, and his sisters Samantha St James, Kierra Cardinal and Neo Cardinal.
__________
Sgt Kathryn Elisabeth Howard
After 29 years of loyal service in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and the Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (RCEME), Sgt Kathryn Elisabeth Howard passed away suddenly on 14 April 2020.
Sgt Kathryn Howard was born in Smith Falls, Ontario. She joined the CAF in August of 1991 as an EGS Technician and attended basic training at the CF Recruit School Cornwallis. Upon successful completion of her training she was posted to the Canadian Forces School of Military Engineering in Gagetown, NB where she voluntarily transferred to the RCEME corps as a Vehicle Technician. She was posted to 1 Svc Bn, Edmonton in October of 1992 after passing her QL3 training and spent the next 4 years honing her skills as a technician.
Sgt Howard married her wife Jonna in August of 1995 and three short years later welcomed their beautiful son Dylan into the world in January of 1998. She completed her QL5 training in the early months of 1996 and was posted shortly after to the Royal Canadian Dragoons in Petawawa, Ontario. While in Petawawa, Sgt Howard deployed on two separate tours of duty. One was with Task Force Golan on OP DENACA in 1997 and the other was with the Infantry Battle Group on OP PALLADIUM to Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2003.
She was posted to CFB Cold Lake in December of 2004 and bounced between 4 Construction Engineering Squadron and 4 Air Combat Service Support. She attended the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver with OP PODIUM and was deployed to Afghanistan in the same year on ROTO 11.
In the summer of 2016, Sgt Howard was posted to 1 CER in Edmonton as the B-Veh Section commander. While on IR she spent countless hours on the road between Edmonton and Cold Lake visiting her family whenever she could. When a position opened up in the summer of 2017 in Cold Lake she jumped at the chance to get home and become the Maint IC for 4 CES.
Sgt Howard had several hobbies ranging from making chainmail to 3D printing various objects. She enjoyed tinkering with electronics and using her virtual reality which she brought in to the unit for some morale days. She was a very caring and empathetic person that would do anything she could to help someone in need and will be missed dearly by everyone who knew her.
“Arte et Marte”