For those that may not know, I live in the general area of Father Gorman and Jack Kemp schools. I’m interested in how both got their names, and today, I can tick one off my list.
Read more: Column: Not one, but two babies
John Kirk Kemp, or as most people knew him Jack Kemp. He was born in England in the County of Kent back in 1912. He came to the Border City in 1931 and took up work at the Lloydminster Times as a typesetter.
For Kemp, there was a growing discomfort with the global landscape. Specifically, pointing to the rise to power of Adolf Hitler in Germany.
“If someone doesn’t stop Hitler, he’ll rule the world.”
When the war expanded, he quickly took the opportunity to enlist in the military.
He was successful in his officer’s exam, becoming a lieutenant before again being promoted to captain.
He was the second in command for a company of 126 men.
Before heading overseas, he married a young telephone operator, Joyce White.
Kemp’s first task would see his brigade ordered to engage German soldiers in the small French village of Rocquencourt. His men would once again be sent elsewhere, this time being assigned to join an attack on the French city of Falaise. During his time overseas, Kemp received his final promotion after the commanding officer of his company had been killed. Of the original 126 men, 59 remained.
On the way in, Kemp was shot by an enemy sniper. The bullet struck the top of his nose, exiting his head behind his left ear. He spent nearly two months in England as a patient before returning to Canada. He went between the Deer Lodge Hospital in Winnipeg and Lloydminster, staying in Winnipeg for a month and Lloyd for three.
When he arrived back in Lloydminster, he met his son Dennis for the first time.
The bullet left a hole about the size of the circumference of his finger in the bone where his nose and forehead meet. Kemp was left with a scar behind his left ear and some paralysis on the left side of his face.
In Lloydminster, he returned to work with the Lloydminster Times until 1960. In various capacities, he worked with the Lloydminster Public School Division.
He continued his community work as he was president of the Lloydminster Legion, and the Lloydminster Music Festival, chairman of the Parkland Residence Association for Handicapped children, and more.
Kemp was a decorated military veteran who gave his all to his community. The proof is in the pudding, as they say. The school, just a stone’s throw away from me, is living proof of that.
Read more: Column: Ink in your blood
