Charles Joseph "Chuck" Jonkel

On Tuesday, April 12, 2016, Dr. Chuck Jonkel died of natural causes in Missoula.

Chuck was born Charles Joseph Jonkel on July 16, 1930, in Chicago, Illinois, into the poverty that characterized America during the Great Depression. He often retold the story of his mother, Ruby, bringing him home, a tiny premature baby weighing only 3 lbs, 2 oz., in a shoe box provided by the hospital. He joined his sister Theo and brother George (Duke). Their father, George Jonkel, was a police officer for the Chicago PD. When Chuck was 2 years old, Ruby sent the children to their grandparents' farm, where the three of them swapped urban poverty for country poverty in rural Neillsville, Wisconsin. Shortly thereafter they were joined by their mother who was fortunate enough to find various jobs in the Neillsville area.

Chuck worked hard throughout his childhood. He told stories of digging wells, harvesting grapes, and, once, building a fence with his brother Duke for payment of a jar of honey. The two boys learned from their mentors Bill Sollberger and George Church how to hunt, fish and trap so as to put food on the table. When not working, they attended school in a one-room schoolhouse, walking on winter mornings with hot baked potatoes in their pockets which kept their hands warm, while also serving as lunch. This Spartan time in Chuck's formative years imbued in him a passionate resolve to oppose social inequities and fight against unnecessary, wasteful excess.

In 1948, Chuck joined the U.S. Army and served as a supply sergeant while seeing action in the Korean War. Chuck rarely spoke of this time in his life but might remind you of his service by, on occasion, singing the entirety of the Tennessee Waltz in Korean. As was typical of Chuck, he befriended the Korean soldiers who fought alongside American troops. After leaving the army in 1953, Chuck took advantage of the GI Bill and so sought higher education at the University of Montana, where his brother Duke was enrolled. Together, they grew to love the Montana wilderness while hunting deer and elk. Chuck attained B.S. and M.S. degrees in wildlife biology in 1957 and 1959.

It was in 1956 that Chuck met Joan Murphy, who was to become his wife of 58 years. Joan was a native Montanan, from Laurel, who was pursuing an English degree at the university. The two married in 1957 in a small ceremony at the home of Joan's parents. Joan joined Chuck in his research adventures spending time in trailers and cabins in the North Fork of the Flathead and Glacier Park. Their son James was born in 1959 in Missoula where Chuck was a biologist for the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks working on black bears. Over the next six years, they shared time between their home in Whitefish and Vancouver, B.C., where Chuck was enrolled in the University of British Columbia Wildlife Biology Ph.D. program. Joan vigorously supported Chuck in all his professional endeavors, while at the same time pursuing her own professional career and caring for their children.

An opportunity to work for the Canadian Wildlife Service took the family next to Ottawa, Ontario. This is where Joan and Chuck's daughter, Elizabeth, was born in 1967. Once there, Chuck began his groundbreaking work on polar bears in the Canadian Arctic. He was one of the early biologists to venture into the frozen deserts to do research on Arctic wildlife. Working closely with the Inuit and Dene and Russian and Scandinavian polar bear experts, he and his associates traveled by boat, small twin-engine planes and helicopters exploring the remote ice flows, barren ground islands and lonesome fiords of the high Arctic.

In 1974, the family chose to return to Montana where Chuck began his work with the Border Grizzly Project at the University of Montana. For the next 42 years, they remained in Missoula, establishing strong ties to the community. Both Joan and Chuck participated in the Missoula Farmers Market. Joan sat on various political, arts and cultural boards, and Chuck established the International Wildlife Film Festival along with the annual Wild Walk Parade. He and colleagues founded the Great Bear Foundation, and he served as its director for many years.

But it was the little things that Chuck did, sometimes almost daily, that had the biggest impact on those around him. He was never one to pass a tree on the side of the road, laden with fruit, without stopping to harvest the crop – not only because it was good eating, but also to protect any bears in the vicinity that might be tempted to come close to humans. He was the rare individual to pick up hitchhikers, as he himself had been where they stood: cold, lonely and in need of help. Chuck hated human insolence toward the environment and would pick up litter automatically, wherever he found it. He raged against the foolishness of "fat cats" and gave his voice to those who could not speak, the fauna and flora of Montana.

Chuck would seek out the most beautiful of Christmas trees. He never missed a family holiday or birthday. He stoked fires in the fireplace on cold days, so as to better enjoy a glass of sherry with Joan and her sister Margo. His niece Kate and daughter Elizabeth greatly appreciate memories of Chuck being "Nanook of the North," as he pulled their toboggan through fresh snow around the University district. He spent hours with his granddaughter Madeline and her friends, after school on the Paxson yard, being their "monster" or pony or whatever their imaginations conjured up. His son Jamie values how Chuck granted him a shared life working in the wild with bears, lions and wolves.

Beyond family, Chuck could connect with all people: freshly arrived UM students, with a drive to learn and make a difference; ranchers, farmers and hunters who are the conservationists of Montana's resources; children who helped make plaster casts of grizzly prints; First Nation peoples who further inspired his love of land … these are but a few of the people that Chuck met, taught, learned from, respected and enfolded into his world.

In Missoula, he leaves behind his wife Joan Jonkel; son James, granddaughter Madeline and her mother Ali Duvall; daughter Elizabeth and her husband Brad Craig, niece Kate Ybarra and husband George, grandniece Zora and grandnephew Zander. His older brother Duke resides in Florida. From his branch of the family are daughters, Susan, Laura, Elise and Rhonda with her daughter Michelle, and son Philip with his son Colin and daughter Caitlin. Also surviving Chuck are cousins Ron Poertner with wife Janet and Sarah Poertner, and brother-in-law Robert Murphy with wife Carol and nephew John Murphy.

Chuck was preceded in death by his mother Ruby Poertner Jonkel Yndogliato; stepfather Tom Yndogliato; father George Jonkel; sister Theo Jonkel and sister-in-law Margo Murphy Jerrim.

Throughout his life, Chuck gained well-deserved notoriety as an advocate, mentor and activist for wildlife conservation, responsible and sustainable living, and social justice. His family would like to thank reporter Rob Chaney of the Missoulian and local writer David Stalling and many others for so eloquently and affectingly conveying in recent communications the facts around this side of Chuck's life. The staff at Riverside's kind assistance during Chuck's final days was much appreciated. Also deserving of thanks is Barry Gordon, who has been a stalwart friend to Chuck and all the family.

Chuck would probably say any tribute to his memory should be through our actions, not our wallets. Go outside. Be good to the Earth. Respect animals. Treat each other with dignity, but fight with all we've got if the cause is good. Remember that, according to Chuck, "only boring people are bored."

But anyone wishing to donate funds in lieu of flowers can visit gofundme.com/jonkel to donate funds for a University archival repository of the papers, research and other materials of Dr. Charles Jonkel that accumulated over a long, fruitful and fascinating life.

A memorial event to honor Chuck is tentatively planned for July 16 on what would have been is 86th birthday. Further details will be forthcoming. Those with questions or suggestions are welcome to contact us at jonkelfamily@hotmail.com.


Read Charles Jonkel's Obituary and Guestbook on www.missoulafuneralhomes.com.