Jonathan (Jon) Neil Shanks, age 78, was born in West Seattle, the first child of Louise Lutey Shanks and William Newton Shanks, and older brother of Susan Shanks (Sheppard). He passed peacefully in Vancouver, British Columbia, after a several year battle with Parkinson’s disease. Jon lived a full life. He was an adventurer, risk taker, entrepreneur, loving husband, father and dear friend to many.
Jon attended Lafayette Elementary, James Madison Junior High, (where his father was a math and science teacher) and graduated from West Seattle High School in 1961, where he made friends with whom he maintained lifetime ties. It was also during high school that he began his quest for travel and adventure. In 1957 the family moved to Tangier, Morocco, for a year, where his father taught school and where Jon started his lifelong love of international travel and appreciation for the varied cultures and peoples of our world. During high school Jon worked at the iconic Barnecut’s Service Station in West Seattle and developed both business and mechanical skills that would serve him well as he maintained a lasting passion for mechanics and especially motorcycles.
Upon graduating from high school in 1962, Jon took a year off from school. He worked on a freighter for fare to Europe where he purchased a motor scooter and traveled across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. He lived for a time on a Kibbutz in Israel in 1962. Along the way, he wrote weekly accounts of the trip which were published in the local West Seattle Herald and followed by many. Upon his return, he and a close friend bicycled the then unpaved Al-Can Highway from Seattle to Fairbanks, after which he entered the University of Washington in 1963, earning a degree in Psychology in 1967.
Following graduation from UW, Jon joined the Peace Corps and was posted to the remote atoll of Lae in the Marshall Islands. He resided there for 5 years, building the local school, and starting a family. His daughter Tanya was born there in 1968. Jon returned to Seattle briefly in 1972, then immigrated to Canada. He resided there for the next 48 years. He met and married the love-of-his-life and dedicated wife of 44 years Shiuling Wong, in 1976.
In 1979 Jon’s interests in environmental conservation and protection led him to attend Malaspina College earning a certification in Water & Waste Water Treatment followed by a tenure at the Chilliwack Waste Water Treatment Plant where he contributed to improving the process for water treatment in his community. In 1982, Jon and Shiuling bought Champion Cycles, a dealership in Kawasaki and Skidoo products which they ran successfully until 1989, raised Tanya and saw her into college. In 1990 Jon’s passion for serving people and promoting, understanding between different cultures saw him return to college, earning a teaching certificate then joining the faculty of the University of Fraser Valley, where he taught ESL for the next 16 years until his retirement in 2007. During his tenure there he served as an exchange teacher in Tekudia, Hokaido, Japan, in Hong Du, Vietnam, and in Harbin, China. He gave unselfishly of his time and energy to promote greater understanding between people throughout his life.
After retiring, Jon continued his love of travel. He and Shiuling visited China and he took several motorcycle excursions into the Canadian arctic then transitioned to a slower form of travel in his later years by cruising with Shiuling and family to the Mediterranean, Hawaii and Mexico. His later life was dominated by his struggle with Parkinson’s. He maintained a positive attitude while organizing support and fundraising groups.
His last 3+ years were spent at Yaletown House in Vancouver where he was cared for by the gracious, attentive staff, and visited almost daily by Shiuling, as well as by dear friends and other family members. Jon is survived by his beloved wife, Shiuling, and sister Susan Shanks Sheppard, daughter Tanya Jack and many grandchildren and great grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to organizations furthering international peace and better relations among our world’s cultures or to the Parkinson’s foundation.