Baker Lake elder Kenneth Arngna’naaq died in November, surrounded by family, says brother Silas Arngna’naaq. The veteran died four days after Remembrance Day. (Photo courtesy of Jenni Mariq)
Baker Lake veteran dies shortly after Remembrance Day
Friends, family remember Kenneth Arngna’naaq, who enlisted when the army was recruiting northerners
A veteran from Baker Lake passed away just a few days after Remembrance Day last month.
On Nov. 11, Kenneth Arngna’naaq’s sister Jenni Mariq posted photos of Arngna’naaq watching the Remembrance Day parade from his window as it went by her house. He could be seen proudly waving to the parade-goers as they passed by.
“Kenneth really wanted to watch the parade. He had us rush him to the window,” Mariq said in a social media post on the day.
After he died on Nov. 15, condolences from the community flooded Facebook. There were more than 140 comments on the post announcing his death.
He died of cancer at the age of 62, surrounded by family, his older brother Silas Arngna’naaq said in a phone interview earlier in December.
People in the community were proud of having a veteran in their midst, he said.
“In the mid-1980s they were really campaigning to get people from the North into the army,” Silas Arngna’naaq said.
Kenneth Arngna’naaq was assigned to the light infantry and became a sharpshooter, his brother said. He declined an assignment to a post on the Berlin Wall and resigned sometime after. A few years later, in 1989, the Berlin Wall fell, making worldwide headlines.
Kenneth Arngna’naaq was one of those people who could make friends anywhere, Silas said.
“If [you] asked him for a favour, he was ready to help out,” he said.
“He was always there.”
Thank you for your service RIP