Carl Junkerman died on March 26 in the comfort of his home in Helena, Montana, where he spent the last ten years of his life. Carl was born to Ruby and Walter Junkerman in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on April 29, 1924. He graduated from Riverside High School in 1942; married his sweetheart, Anne Thomas, in 1945; and received his medical degree from Marquette University in 1947. Shortly thereafter he was commissioned a Lieutenant in the US Navy, serving in Yokosuka, Japan in 1952 and 1953. Upon return to the States, Carl and Anne settled in Wauwatosa and Carl began private practice in internal medicine. He and several colleagues formed Harwood Medical Associates and built an office in the village in Wauwatosa. During his twenty-two years in private practice he also served as a clinical faculty member at Marquette Medical School/Medical College of Wisconsin before becoming Professor of Medicine and, ultimately, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Froedtert Hospital. Carl was a mentor to hundreds of residents over forty-four years and received numerous awards for distinguished teaching. Today, the Medical College recognizes the resident whose work reflects the highest standards of ethics, patient management, and respect for the dignity of the individual with the Carl L. Junkerman MD Award of Merit.
Carl and Anne were committed to humanitarian causes throughout their lives. Carl served on the Hospital Ship Hope, on the advisory board of Planned Parenthood, was active in the Wisconsin Indochina Refugee Relief Program, and received the Humanitarian Award from the Milwaukee Academy of Medicine in 1993. He served as chair of the Ethics Committee at Froedtert and of the State Medical Society’s Commission on Ethics. He is coauthor of Practical Ethics for Students, Interns, and Residents (1994, 1998). In his retirement he lectured widely on advance directives and difficult medical decisions including withdrawal of treatment and aid in dying. He was frequently called upon by health care institutions as a consultant on bioethical issues.
Carl and Anne were Milwaukee residents for eight decades. They found community, lifelong friends, and sustained intellectual stimulation in the First Unitarian Church, where Carl served as president of the board and gave frequent guest sermons and readings. The family was active in the American Field Service (AFS) international exchange program and hosted students from Turkey, Japan, and Norway; and two of the children spent years abroad as AFS students in Denmark and Japan.
For fifty years, Carl and Anne were intrepid travelers. They drove a VW camper through Anatolia with the kids, rode camels in India, watched birds in the Galapagos, photographed temples in Kyoto, and sampled wine in Provence. Although they loved traveling, they were most at peace at the beloved family cottage on Lake Michigan in Door County. From the time he purchased his first Nikon camera in 1952, Carl pursued a near-professional dedication to the art of photography and his photographs grace the walls of all Junkerman homes. A recent exhibit in Hayama, Japan, featured Carl’s rare images of daily life in Japan in the early 1950s.
Throughout his life Carl loved classical music and philosophy. He was not so keen about rock and roll and fiction, but he enjoyed nothing more in his retirement than listening to a favorite symphony and reading about science, atheism, and history. He was a committed evolutionist and skeptic, and enjoyed healthy debate about science and religion. Carl was a fierce and intelligent card player who taught all his children and grandchildren how to play Schmier, Sheepshead and Oh, Hell! – and how to slap the winning ace on the table.
Carl and Anne moved to Helena in 2005 to be close to their daughter Peg. Anne was already in the final stages of Alzheimer’s disease and was cared for at the Cooney Home. Carl lived at Touchmark , then in an apartment at his daughter’s residence, and finally back at Touchmark in assisted living. During his years in Montana, Carl came to treasure his adopted state. With a photographer’s eye, he never failed to appreciate the many moods of Montana’s big sky and landscape. Always eager for a road trip, Carl experienced the grandeur of Yellowstone, Glacier, the Flathead, the Little Blackfoot Valley, and the Bitterroot. He became a beloved member of the Big Sky Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, a community that embraced him personally and valued his thoughtful contributions to Sunday services. Carl took his family out to dinner at every restaurant in town, enjoyed the Holter Museum of Art, and was a season ticket holder at the Helena Symphony, which he claimed to be as accomplished as the Milwaukee Symphony.
Carl was preceded in death by his wife Anne (2010) and is survived by his daughter Peg Hunter (Patrick) of Helena and sons Cem Kozlu (Anne) of Istanbul, Charlie (Christy) of Palo Alto, John (Kaoru) of Tokyo and Peter (Nancy) of Seattle; and the eight grandchildren he loved and who loved him back: Nick, Eliza, Jeff, Hannah, Per, Tia, Maya, and Kai. His first great-grandchild is expected in October.
Carl’s family extends deep gratitude to the staff of Touchmark, who cared lovingly for Dad over many years and Hospice of St. Peter’s for their support and love during his final weeks, and Dr. Tom Weiner. Special thanks to Dr. Jessica Bailey for her tender care and friendship.
According to Carl’s wishes, cremation has taken place. Remembrances in Carl’s name may be made to the Helena Symphony (2 North Last Chance Gulch, Suite #1). A celebration of Carl’s life will take place at Plymouth Congregational Church at Winne and Oakes on Sunday, April 13th at 4:00.
To offer condolences to Carl’s family or to share a memory, please visit below or email spiritbear@bresnan.net or send ground mail to Peg Hunter/Patrick Johnson at 519 3rd St., Helena MT 59601.
Service Schedule
Celebration of His Life
4:00 p.m.
Sunday April 13, 2014
Plymouth Congregational Church
400 S. Oakes St.
Helena, Montana 59601
Service Schedule
Celebration of His Life
4:00 p.m.
Sunday April 13, 2014
Plymouth Congregational Church
400 S. Oakes St.
Helena, Montana 59601
Robert T Adlam, MD,FACP says
Carl was an Consumate Physician, a friend, and someone I have admired and respected all of my career. The world will be a little lonelier now. God watch over him and his family.
Mahendr S. Kochar MD, MACP says
Dr. Junkerman was a physician’s physician. He was a role model to many. He was a terrific teacher and an excellent administrator. He practiced what he preached. He had many friends and will be missed immensely.
Ginny and Mike Bolger says
I was deeply saddened to learn that my good friend, former primary care physician and role model passed away. Carl was a consummate physician, teacher and healer. His kindness was legend, and his devotion to his patients and his profession was the stuff of a grand legacy. I was privileged to have him for my doctor for so many years until he retired. I was also privileged to be the president of MCW during his tenure as faculty member and Sr. Associate Dean. My deepest sympathies are with his family. A truly great man has left us all much the poorer in his leaving us to carry on.
Mary Weiland Schwalbach says
Dr Junkerman was my boss when I was a very young girl and was hired by him to work in his busy office with Dr Daniels, Olinger, and Stokke. He was such a fine doctor. I will always remember his caring and kindness to everyone, worker or patient. He was a wonderful doctor. My sympathies to his entire family.
Elaine Burke says
Dr. Junkerman was my internist until he left Froedert and the Medical College. Not only was he an excellent physician but his kindness was beyond any I have ever experienced with a doctor. Years later when I saw him in a restaurant, he came to our table immediately and asked all sorts of questions about our lives. How blessed you were to have him as your father or grandfather!
John R Nelson says
There was a reason why many of us teenagers liked to hang-out at the Junkerman’s house when we were growing-up — mainly Carl & Anne Junkerman. Dr. Junkerman became a role model to me, demonstrating a thoughtful and caring process to social, scientific, and philosophical topics and issues. The respect and encouragement for expression that he afforded us teens ultimately became the template upon which I tried to establish my relationships with my children and their friends. He truly was an exceptionally fine person. He’ll occupy a fond place in my mind and heart throughout my lifetime.
Paul White says
My mother Mary Patricia White was a keen judge of character and few, if any, where higher on the list than Anne and Carl Junkerman. I was very young on various visits to the Junkerman household in Wisconsin but I always knew from mother that Carl and Anne were very special people and held an important place in my mother’s heart.
She had the deepest regard for Carl and Anne and their children.
My dogs name is Montana Sky so you can probably figure I have a special place in my heart for this part of the country. In my next life, I would be a farmer and rancher in Montana and Wyoming if I could be. It was wonderful to see that Carl and Anne spent their last years in one of the most fabulous places on earth and close to their daughter Peg.
Rita says
I have remembered Dr. Junkerman from when I worked at Lutheran Hospital of Milwaukee for 9 years in the late 1960s and 1970s. I was a young unit clerk and he was so patient, kind, gentle, supportive, instructive and respectful to me and all others, even when he was tired and under much responsibility, since he always, always tried his hardest. In his quiet way, I could see how important all this was to him. He was absolutely brilliant in his medical practice and in his care for the individual. I have thought of him many times over the years, always with deepest respect, admiration and yes, a special, grateful love. I know that I am joined by literally tens of thousands.