IN MEMORIAM

Rev. James Lienert MSFPadre Jaime

(24 May 1925 – 4 Jan 2010)

28 January 2010wkboonec@gmail.com

Hello, I address you [Father Treviño and everyone of his contacts], thanking you for your consideration in sending this news that certainly is of two meanings: one of joy because now he is in completeness with the Father, and one of human sadness for his parting.

I sent word to Sierra Mojada, his beloved community where he served for so many years, and that allowed me to meet him in the Lasallian Missions since about 18 years ago. Furthermore, he was Confirmation godfather of one of my children. The last time that I heard from him was last September, when he appologized for not being able to attend the wedding of his godson, [...]

Yesterday, January 4th, 2010, Rev. James Lienert (Padre Jaime) died. He was an American priest that I never met in person but with whom I kept email-correspondence for several years. Captivating and pleasant story-teller, he was 84 years old and had turned into an expert cybernaut, with personal accounts in Google Earth Communiity and Panoramio, and was able to create Power Point presentations, inspite of never having used (in fact, perhaps not even having seen) a computer before his 75 years of age, after having completed his fruitful missionary labour of over three decades in the most remote confines of the Chihuahua Desert in Sierra Mojada and Ocampo, Coahuila, where he had arrived in the 1970s. Besides his excellent messages, often he would send jokes that, seemingly more in the style of Catón [newspaper columnist] than of a venerable priest, candidly reflected his sense of humor.

Hi Roberto, And so, you also did not get to meet him personally? My thanks to you, for having introduced us, [...]

The last Power Point that Padre Jaime was working on – his Boyhood Treasure Chest – seemed to open up a multitude of stories that he could have told. I had just offered him a few suggestions and he had sent me his “version 2” (dated 9-Dec-2009) which I don’t know if he got to send out. I will translate it into Spanish and I will send it to the list of friends (that appear in the list of email addresses that came along the notice of his death). [...]

Hi William, That’s right, I also did not know him personally, but I got to appreciate him very much, as did the rest of my family with whom he also corresponded (he had something for everyone). I am extremely glad of having “introduced “ you, because I know that both you and your sister Carmen nourished a good and, particularly, a mutually enriching friendship with him; and the mere fact that you had the patience to teach him to create PP presentations speaks well of your appreciation of him. [...] Last night my sister Socorro made a posting to the MSF Mexico Missions web-page and I was impressed by her show of feelings [...]

Dear Brother, I was deeply moved by the translation of Padre Jaime’s pps that you are doing. A well deserved homage to an angel that touched our lives and flew to Heaven.

Two suggestions:

1) Include the photo of P. Jaime (in your friend Roberto’s email)

2) Write the date of his passing 4-Jan-2010, not just the year [...] which, according to Catholic tradition, is the date of “birth to the eternal life”, thereby, infinitely more important than the day he came to this world.Three attachments:

1) The 2009 Christmas card which he sent to me, a month before his passing.

2) Front and back of his Christmas card. I thought the campaign slogan “Keep Christ in Christmas” was sharply appropiate.

3) Inside of his Christmas card, with his handwritten note: “¡Que Cristo nazca en tu vida! – Padre Jaime” [May Christ be born in your life].

BOYHOOD TREASURE CHEST

Presentation created byPadre Jaime (1925-2010)

9 – December - 2009

Finishing touches by William K. Boone Canovas

28 Jan 2010

♫ The Rose of Allendale ♫

• This is one of several projects worked on in the high school wood working shop.

• Two little brass plates attached to the top of the box read: ANNUM IMMXL [sic pro MCMXL] = YEAR 1940.

• This is the year in which it was finished, but it was finished before my birthday, and so I was fourteen years old when it was made.

• It is made of black walnut, a choice wood even back then.• The boards came rough cut and a full inch thick.• The chest measures 13” long, 8” wide, and 6” high.

ANNUM

IMMXL

• Top of the chest with the wood inlays which are 1/8” thick.• There are eight different kinds of wood.• The large square is what we then called Philippine mahogany, also then

considered a choice wood.• The circle is birds’ eye maple.• The right lower spike of the star is sycamore; the left top spike is mesquite.• At that time the only glue that was used was the smelly hot glue. It is more

tricky to use.

Mesquite

Sycamore

Philippine mahogany

Bird’s eye maple

• A simple front view of the chest showing the hole for the key.• Dad found for me a used lock that clicked shut when the lid was closed.• The lock did not have a key, and so a locksmith had to make one.• It never worked well, and after a while stopped working altogether.• From then on until today a wide blade knife inserted beneath the top and

given a twist opens the chest.

• A simple side view of the chest showing the hand made handle.

• This is the underside of the chest,• A hole deep enough to hold the key was made into the bottom.• A groove was cut along the sides, and a thin piece of wood traveled the

groove to open and close the compartment for the key. So the key was always available.

• Sort of a Seven Dwarfs’ idea.• It never did work too well, and the key is long lost.

• This is a picture of the inside of the chest showing three interior drawers.• It can be added here that at that time I was very interested in collecting

miniatures, and so the need for drawers.• Note the tips of two brass rods sticking out of the drawer chest right at the

very back.• The drawers had hooks on the back of them through which the rods

passed and so kept them in their place when the rods were in place,

• These are some of the more notable contents of the chest.• (The 1923 Silver dollar serves as a size reference. I think we picked it up

when we passed through Nevada in 1939)

• N° 1 Back on the farm mom had incubators to hatch several hundred chicks every spring,

• Some were for laying hens for selling eggs, the rest for the table.• Also she hatched for the neighbors.• This box was used inside the chest to contain small articles.

• Nº 2 A notebook in which I kept many of my personal compositions in high school.

• Nº3 My 1932 Confirmation prayer book.

• Nº 4 In 1936 dad received his Veteran's Pension check.• He had not seen for many years his sister Lena living in Oregon.• So Dad and Mom, and dad’s brother Charlie and wife drove out to visit her.• They came back by way of San Diego to take in the World Fair.• There they bought the little bamboo schooner for me.

• Nº 1 Original dowel, hand made nails, and raw hide from Mission San Miguel.• The dowel was used to prevent two wooden pieces from sliding; the soaked

rawhide was bound around the pieces.• When the rawhide shrank, it binded the pieces together.• This was in the construction of rafters.

• Nº 2 My first Holy Communion prayer book.

• Nº 3 A mailing from [mother and] dad on the 1936 trip.• The bag contains three photos of the Mormon Temple.

• Nº 4 Miniature harmonica.

• Nº 5 1939 souvenir from Gallup, NM.

• Nº 6 The long piece is a retractable pen knife• --- a souvenir of the 1939 visit to the state capital Lincoln.• The gold chain is dad’s fob watch.

• Nº 7 A monkey carved from a peach pit, bought in Tijuana.

• Nº 8 One of my then favorites: a tiny tie pin in the form of a hatchet made of silver and turquoise, bought in Santa Fe, NM on the 1939 trip.

• There are dozens and dozens of other little things inside the chest.

• Farther below are other wooden objects of my making.

A FRUIT BOWLMADE IN THE HIGH SCHOOL WOOD SHOP

FRUIT TRAYS

• These were made for mom in the early ‘forties at a time when permission was needed to buy wood.

• So three layers of end pieces of lug boxes were glued together.

• On close examination this can be noted on the left tray.

FRUIT TRAYS

• By this time the “white” wood glue had come on the market and I much preferred this to the hot glue pot.

• At one time fruit was left too long in the

tray to the right.

• The trays still have the original finish.

• The trays are twenty-nine inches long.

NUT BOWL

13” long, 11 ½” wide, 5 ½” deep.

WHITTLING

• A chain made in one continuous piece from three- quarter inch of sugar pine, using a small Case pocket knife.

• And three free rings from a single block of sugar pine.

• The inspiration came from seeing similar things in Tijuana, carved from ivory in China.

WHITTLING

• Clockwise; top box with two free balls inside.

• Next, a swivel.

• Bottom, a little four sided tower.

• Finally, a spiral.

WHITTLING

• The two long links joining the two sides of the board -- making it a continuous chain-- are at two and eight o’clock.

WHITTLING

• Made at school during rec and lunch hour.

BOYHOOD TREASURE CHEST

Presentation created byPadre Jaime (1925-2010)

9 – December - 2009

Finishing touches by William K. Boone Canovas

28 Jan 2010

♫ The Rose of Allendale ♫

The End

Complement:

Some internet sites on Padre Jaime

His images in Panoramio:http://www.panoramio.com/user/421018

Missions of the Order of the Sacred Family in Mexico:http://www.msf-america.org/mexico-mission-history/-vignette-introduction.htmlhttp://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1260955

Monument that Padre Jaime dedicated to Ambrose Bierce in Coahuila:http://donswaim.com/bierce-lienert.html

Tributes:http://myfox8.tributes.com/condolences/view_memories/87549862

Some of his stories and Power Point presentations (can be downloaded):http://www.slideshare.net/Wkboonec/tag/padre-jaime

1954

May-Jun 2001- Tibet - At 5,220 meters above sea level

May-Jun 2001 - Lhasa, Tíbet – With Professor Dr. Thomas Laudon

24-May-2001 - Lhasa, Tibet – 76th birthday

July 2009 - Tennessee – With Mary Kurialcose

IN MEMORIAM

Rev. James Lienert MSFPadre Jaime

(24 May 1925 – 4 Jan 2010)

28 January 2010wkboonec@gmail.com