Jack Koning is a beloved teacher who influenced generations of Abbotsford Christian School students to love music. He also taught us the benefits of perseverance, excellence, and that we are better and stronger as a community than as individuals. Jack now has terminal cancer and is in his last days.

I was teaching in Red Deer when Jack and the touring ACS band came to my school. My first impression was “Wow, that director sure is tall and thin.”  My second impression, after the band began to play, was “Wow, that guy is a great band teacher.”

A Master Teacher

Jack Koning started teaching at Abbotsford Christian School in 1977 and built the music program from the ground up. Retired ACS teacher Janet Hitchcock recalls that the first band class at the secondary school, probably in grade 8, was held in the upper room where the ELL department offices currently are.

Part of Jack’s legacy at ACS is the amazing band room. When prospective students and parents take a tour of the building they gasp when they enter it. Jack spent a great deal of time researching the design of the room. Our current music teacher, Bill Workman, continues to enjoy the benefits of all Jack’s research. Each new class at ACS still gets to hear the story about the room that Jack built. This year, that audience included Jack’s very proud grandson.

Jack demanded a lot from his students, and with the instruction and encouragement he gave, individual musicians always became cohesive bands. Band tours were a highlight of the year. The first tour was to the Okanagan on which Jack was band director, tour guide, and even bus driver.

Band was an important part of secondary school for many students, and it was no secret that Jack was a master teacher. This was, in fact, acknowledged by the Ministry of Education who awarded him a Master Teacher Award for his exceptional care and the effectiveness of his instructional practices. He worked tirelessly as he created opportunities for his musicians to perform: music nights, chapels, community events, ensembles, musicals, Christmas CDs, and Disneyland.

We always knew that the music would be exceptional.

In all this, Jack simply wanted to glorify God with music and the development of the gifts and character of his students. You could always see the joy in his face when he saw his students perform. Jack gave the students a great opportunity to explore music and participate in an excellent program.  ACS continues to be blessed by Jack’s efforts and abilities; Bill Workman says that he occasionally catches himself thinking WWJD? (What would Jack do?).

He worked at ACS for over two decades, until he had to stop teaching because of significant health issues, but he continued to help and support the school’s music program though his business. Bill Workman says, “It has been so amazing to have continued a relationship with Jack through King’s Music, as he and his son, Dan, are my main go-to guys for music, parts, instruments, and supplies.”

A Master Colleague

As colleagues, Jack is far more to us than a band teacher.

While I was still teaching at the elementary school, there was a small group of us that would meet weekly in a practice room of the band room to pray. Jack was one of those people. We’d pray for each other, and our families, and our school. There I experienced something we all love about Jack. He listens to you, really listens, and he’d then show sincere empathy and compassion. A lot of the time, he’d do something to help. His life experiences were, at times, difficult and filled with sadness, but he was always ready to listen to others and help in whatever ways he could. Jack’s faith and wisdom were a blessing to our young staff back in those days.

Community was always important to Jack, and he was often front and center in getting the staff together to enjoy fellowship and strengthen community. We will never forget the incredible creative gifts he would make for staff. Jack Boersma, retired ACS teacher and athletic director, remembers one such gift, a very realistic gigantic cardboard Crayola box of gigantic crayons. Gifts like these were often given with some hilarious poetry which Jack also composed.

Jack knew that building community wasn’t just about social gatherings. When retired ACS teacher Rob Bakker turned 40, Jack convinced the entire senior band to get to school in the wee hours of the morning. He loaded them all onto the school bus and drove them out to Rob’s house in Chilliwack. He quietly arranged the kids around the front door of the house. This was early. Rob was still asleep—the doorbell woke him, and he came to the front door. Luckily, having the wherewithal to adorn himself with a robe, he opened the front door to the whole band playing “Happy Birthday.” In the front yard. In the dark. Lights started flicking on all over the neighbourhood.

Rob characterizes this event as “pretty memorable.”

Following the Master

I will never forget Jack’s penny devotional. After reading a passage from the Bible, he had us hold a penny up to our eyes and said that sometimes our problems seem so big. Then he pointed to the pennies on the walls which had, till then, been unnoticed. Our problems, like those pennies, with the proper perspective, are not so big. Our struggles, in the proper perceptive, are not so big either. Our lives are meant to be lived against the backdrop of Christ’s death and the promise of our participation in his Resurrection. I have gone back to that devotional many times since then. Thank you, Jack. Interestingly, the last of those pennies was still on the wall just a few years ago.

Bill speaks for all of us when he says, “Jack’s inspirational legacy is permanently etched into the fabric of ACS and in my life. I am continually aspiring to be the kind of educator and person that he modeled so well.”

Thank you, Jack, for your wisdom, help, friendship, and for the gift of your music.

Jack is unable to have visitors, but if you would like to honour and encourage him with stories, thoughts, and prayers feel free to do so in the comments below.