Dad worked his whole career for the Governments of Canada and of Manitoba. He strongly believed that the mission of the government funded agricultural research organizations was to improve the lives of farmers and how we feed ourselves and the world.
I thought that his colleagues, many of whom are also friends, might like to have this separate space to share their memories of Dad's professional life.
If you have photos that you would like to share, please send them to John.Dueck.Memoriam@gmail.com and I will post them.
Harvey Dueck
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I first met John as a fellow student in one of the many French language courses offered by the Public Service Commission at the Bilingual Centre, University of Regina, in 1984-85. We all struggled with our common experience of high school or university-level French and building on it to attain a measure of fluency by the end of the training year (at least that was the stated objective from our instructors!). During the course, we frequently talked about our experiences in various federal departments and agencies, and our families, and John was always eager to share his experiences and work with Agriculture Canada (now Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada). This was especially enlightening to a basically city-based group of public service employees and Mounties who were not very familiar with agriculture. I recall John finally admitting, towards the end of the class, that he spoke English and German far better than he did French! He did not return to the course the following year and I did not see much of him until 1988, when I applied for the position of Administrative Officer at the Regina Research Station, where John was the Director. I was successful in the competition and started a great year under John's guidance and mentorship, learning the ropes of administrative support to research, a far cry from administering health and income support programs at my previous ministry, Veterans Affairs Canada. We were kept very busy dealing with the vagaries of aging research facilities, renovating herbicide chemistry labs, and the start of collaborative research agreements. They were exciting, and occasionally daunting times, demanding a lot of my time and skill to manage, but I was encouraged by John's support and his confidence in me to rise to the challenges. It was undoubtedly too short a working relationship when John announced, in the summer of 1989, that he was relocating to the Summerland Research Centre as the Director. Our paths crossed in the ensuing years, from time to time, at meetings in Summerland and sometimes just in the cafeteria in the Neatby Building in Ottawa. He always stopped to talk so we could catch up on career and family. Just simple gestures…….from a good man and friend……..that was John………
It was a pleasure to know him.
Bill Atkinson
Integrated Services Manager
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Corporate Management Branch
Winnipeg
10-04-2007 8:46 AM -- By: Carmen Foglietta, From: Ottawa, Ontario
Dearest Mary and Family
My sincerest condolences and sympathy for your loss.
As you know, I worked for John for a number of years. He was always encouraging, supportive, a great mentor to me and a number of young people who started their careers at Agriculture Canada. He was one of only a very few amoung his peers who took time to support and mentor staff. I was a female, in a very male dominiated organization, who did not have a scientific background. John respected my talents and provided many opportunities for me to grow and succeed. His support for his staff was steadfast even during some pretty rough times for the organization during the 1990s.
My husband John, who on many occassions accompanied me during business my trips to BC and dropping by the office during the ECORC years, noted that "When you are around John, you want to be better person, read, travel and volonteer more. John is a great man. " I could not agree more.
We will miss his intelligence, good humour and generous spirit.
We send our prayers, love and support to you.
Hugs, Carmen, John ( a baby Alicia- I finally have one!) Foglietta- Primiani
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