Force: Air Force
Jim was the third son of Dave and Eva Funk. The siblings were Albert, Jake, Jim, and Mabel who were likely born in Saskatchewan, and Fred, born in Alberta. Jim was probably born between 1917 and 1922, and attended school in Wanham with Jack and Mabel. The Dave Funk family moved from Saskatchewan to Wanham by rail in spring of 1928. Dave had come to Grande Prairie in 1927 to file on a homestead about 14 miles south of Wanham. In the following summer, Dave and Albert cleared the land and built a barn and frame house in which the whole family, including their grandmother, lived. Soon, Dave organised the building of a school near the homestead which was called West Vale School. Mabel, and probably Jim, finished their schooling there. Jim joined the Air Force in World War II, being first deployed to Vancouver BC and then to France, where he landed on D-Day. After his discharge in March of 1946, he bought a house in Woking AB, to where his parents had moved and owned a restaurant. Jim awaited his war bride, Theresa from Eindhoven, Holland, who arrived in May 1946. Theresa was a city girl, yet adjusted well to small town living. However, one day she was initiated to country living when she and a horse she was riding experience disaster in a mud hole. Jim luckily was able to save both. Jim and Theresa had two children: A daughter, Terry, and a son, Jimmy. Jim worked at a portable sawmill with his brothers Albert and Fred. A year after living in town, Jim and family moved 3 miles out of town to a farm. One icy winter night, as the family was coming home, their horse and sleigh tipped over in the ditch, and they lost the baby in the drift. When they finally found him, after a frantic search, Jimmy was peacefully asleep in the snow. In May 1951, the family moved to Maple Ridge BC with Jim’s brother Jack, where Jim took a government job. After retiring, he had a small farm, producing milk, meat and eggs for his family.
Source: Burnt Embers pp 464-465 (family story Jim and Theresa) No photo