Kenneth Jay

by Mike Jay

	Born Kurt August Jekutsch in West Germany, Ken first came to Britain as a prisoner of war after world war 2. He learnt to speak English from a prison guard while in an American POW camp and changed his name to Jay, partly because he liked the Jay bird with its colourful plumage but mainly because the POW camp guards found Jekutsch, (pronounced Yay-ku-ch), hard to say and they just called him Mr J.
Ken's great great grandfather was a Polish Baron, Baron Von Reuß, with extensive property in Poland. Following Hitler's invasion of Poland records of the family were destroyed as was much of Poland's historical data. Ken first met Sue when they worked for a Barnstaple insurance firm, although at the time Ken was married to Pauline and Sue was engaged to Geoffrey. It was some years later when both these marriages had failed that Ken and Sue met again and their relationship blossomed into marriage. Ken had been working as a postman in the Bournemouth area, later transferring to work in Barnstaple. Unfortunately he suffered with arthritis which eventually lead to his premature retirement on health grounds. Ken was father to Michael, Christopher and Kathy and sadly died in December 1990 just 2 months before the birth of his first grandchild, Matthew. He has been greatly missed! Mike Jay
Ken's parents, Martha and August Jekutsch.

 

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