Frank E. Jeniker, 95

Frank Eugene Jeniker left this world on Dec. 20, 2018, at the age of 95.

Frank was born on July 20, 1923, to Frank E. and Mary (Petric) Jeniker in the McQueen Addition to Butte. He was a great Slovenian and very proud of his cultural heritage.

Frank attended Franklin School in Butte and was the all-round city marble champion in 1936. He enjoyed acting as a young man and often performed in theatrical performances during events of the Slovenian National Benefit Society.

Frank had a great mind and was a gifted athlete and scholar. As a young man, he excelled in baseball as a pitcher for the American Legion, Montana School of Mine Orediggers, Butte City League and the Butte Copper League. In 1940, at 17, Frank was the youngest member on the McQueen’s Butte City League baseball team. In 1945 with his pitching skills Frank helped McQueen win the Butte Copper League city championship. The 1945 McQueen team was inducted into the Butte Hall of Fame in 2013. Frank played for the McQueen Copper League team through 1950.

Frank served his country in the United States Army during World War II and was honorably discharged in March 1945.

Frank’s academic career placed him on the honor roll in grade school, Butte High School and throughout college at the School of Mines in Butte.

Frank graduated from the Montana School of Mines in 1957, earning a degree in metallurgical and materials engineering. Frank went to work at the Anaconda Copper Mining Company in Butte as a sampler. He eventually moved into Anaconda’s Extractive Metallurgical Research Division in Anaconda where he met his wife Judy Hihnala.

Frank and Judy married in December of 1967. Shortly after they married, they moved to Tucson, Arizona, with the Anaconda Company and then to Walnut Creek, California, where the Anaconda Company had become partners in an alumina consortium. This project culminated in a huge alumina refinery in Jamaica. Frank and Judy lived and worked in Jamaica for five years, returning to the United States in 1973.

When they returned from Jamaica, Frank and Judy made their home in the Flathead Valley. They traveled extensively to Europe, making visits to Frank’s family in Vienna, Slovenia, Venice, the Alps, Dubrovnik, the Dalmatian Coast and the Adriatic Sea.

Frank also had a passion for amateur radio and surveying.

Frank was preceded in death by his wife Judy, his parents Frank and Mary Jeniker Sumina, his brother Charles “Chas” Jeniker and nephew Bob Jeniker.