Jakob Derksen was born in Burwalde, Ukraine in Sept, 1933 and passed away peacefully at the Bradley Care Centre, Chilliwack, BC in February, 2021.
The youngest of seven children, he is predeceased by his parents, Gerhard and Maria Derksen, brother George and infant brother Peter, and sisters Anna Kowtek, Maria Zacharias and Erna Richert.
He is survived by his sister, Christa Bonde, sons Jakob and Jeffrey, and grandsons Kaleb and Kieran, and Steven and Joshua, as well as numerous nieces and nephews.
Jake came to Canada as a refugee in the 1950s. During WW2 the family was forced to flee the Ukraine, and with help from the Mennonite Central Committee, they were able to make their way to a colony in Paraguay at war's end. There the family faced extremely arduous conditions before eventually making their way to Canada.
Although Jake spent many years living and working in and around Chilliwack, the bulk of his pre-retirement years was spent working in Vancouver's downtown eastside as a custodian for city-owned SRO hotels. He returned to Chilliwack in the early 1990s.
The family would like to thank Dr. David Esau and the staff at the Bradley Centre for the care they provided Jake over the past decade of his life, and his niece Ruth (Greg) Haggerty for her help.