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Julius & Martha Juhkentaal - 40th Wedding anniversary in 1979
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| Julius Juhkentaal was born on January 23rd, 1909 in Estonia. He was ordained in 1936 and married his wife Martha in 1939. In 1941 he was deported by the occupying Soviet Army and sent to slave labor camps throughout the Soviet Union. Along with four other he escaped the harsh condiitons and fled to Kabul, Afghanistan. He was arrested and spent a year in prison there for illegally crossing the border. His requests to the British Embassy resulted in his release and he then worked at their Embassy in Peshawar. From there he accepted a job to work as a missionary in Mardan, Pakistan amongst the Muslims. At the end of the war in 1945, he was able to locate his wife and daughter, who had escaped Estonia in 1944 and had relocated to Germany, along with many other refugees from all parts of Europe. They stayed in the Crown Colony of India until India's independence in 1949. At that time, he moved to England and Julius was pastor of a church there until 1952. During the summer of that year, he immigrated to the United States and settled in the parsonage of St. John's. "Post Oak" Church near Campbell Hill, Illinois. He served this congregation for three years. Over the next 20 years he served church's in Hebron, IL. Milwaukee, WI, Beloit, WI, and Madison, WI.. Ini 1974 he retired to Seattle, WA where he continued to serve the community. Pastor Juhkentaal died on July 27th, 1998 and his wife died on August 2nd, 2000. |
| Information and photograph kindly provided to me by Andrew Scott. |