Lynn M. Jaquish

Sept. 3, 1910 - Jan. 19, 2005 SAN DIEGO - Lynn Martin Jaquish died in his San Diego home at age 94, his wife nearby his bed, their marriage lasting 66 years. He'd said a few years earlier that he had accomplished everything in life he had set out to. He was a man of two professions, for four decades a projectionist at many San Diego movie theaters. He was also a skilled machinist who spent his days in his home workshop, designing and building special motion picture equipment. His innovative underwater camera housings were used in the filming of James Bond movies, TV series such as Seahunt, and various underwater documentaries of the 1960's, 70's and 80's. Born in Gregory, South Dakota in 1910, son of carpenter Frank Jaquish and a Swedish immigrant wife Carrie Lind, Lynn's talents with mechanisms started to spark as a young teen when he was featured in the newspaper for building a working movie camera out of assorted spare parts. His skills gained him a variety of jobs, from auto mechanic to hand-cranking cameras of silent westerns filmed in the Badlands. One job was in a hot air balloon, photographing Mount Rushmore while it was being carved. As a theater projectionist in Deadwood and Rapid City in the 1930's, he helped form South Dakota's first projectionists' union despite threats of firing for doing so. He married telephone operator Irene Ondrasek of the town of Lead in 1938. Hearing of greater opportunities, he traveled in early 1941 to San Diego, and once settled was joined by his wife and daughter. During WWII he was part of the motion picture division of aircraft manufacturer Convair, often aloft in bombers undergoing testing. Film used at high altitudes would become brittle in the chilly planes of that era, and his invention of devices to maintain warmth within the cameras was noted in trade publications of the time. His expertise was deemed too valuable for the company to allow him to leave into military service. Most evenings he still worked a second job at theatres. Eventually retiring from Convair, he began his own fabrication business. But through it all, countless theater audiences would continue to benefit from his insistence on perfect screen images and pleasing sound. He retired from theaters at age 72 in 1983, but continued occasional shifts for some years thereafter. His machine work for underwater cinematographers continued for several years beyond. Besides his wife Irene, he is survived by three sons Alan, Martin, and Lee, and a daughter Carole, ten grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren. Never one to seek fame, but happily working behind the scenes of a show, he requested cremation without a public service. He was a wonderful and much-loved husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, and he will be terribly missed.