Chap­ter III — The mem­oir of Fleem­ing Jenkin reveals a man whose pur­suit of excel­lence extend­ed into every facet of life, from work to rela­tion­ships. Jenkin was known for hold­ing high stan­dards and expect­ing the same from oth­ers, includ­ing his clos­est fam­i­ly. This inten­si­ty, though intim­i­dat­ing at first—particularly for his wife, who came from a more relaxed edu­ca­tion­al environment—soon became a source of strength. Those around him found that this demand for qual­i­ty led to per­son­al growth, mutu­al respect, and, over time, warm, trust­ing rela­tion­ships. What once felt like pres­sure turned into inspi­ra­tion.

His ded­i­ca­tion showed no dis­tinc­tion between per­son­al inter­ests and pub­lic ser­vice. Whether design­ing a Greek gar­ment or tack­ling urban san­i­ta­tion prob­lems, Jenkin applied the same lev­el of atten­tion and enthu­si­asm. He took par­tic­u­lar inter­est in san­i­tary engi­neer­ing, not for pres­tige but from a desire to improve pub­lic health stan­dards. Prompt­ed by the pre­ventable deaths of chil­dren in a local tragedy, he poured ener­gy into reform. He believed prac­ti­cal engi­neer­ing could guard against the fail­ings of shod­dy con­struc­tion and cor­rupt prac­tices, par­tic­u­lar­ly in plumb­ing. His ini­tia­tive, though ini­tial­ly focused on wealth­i­er dis­tricts, sparked the for­ma­tion of San­i­tary Asso­ci­a­tions that brought real improve­ments wher­ev­er they took root.

Despite his seri­ous moti­va­tions, Jenkin approached even somber caus­es with a light­heart­ed spir­it. He found ways to main­tain a sense of humor and hope, even when address­ing life-or-death mat­ters. His unique strength was in bal­anc­ing grief with action—turning sor­row into moti­va­tion rather than despair. In his view, mak­ing some­thing good and acces­si­ble meant it would sure­ly be embraced by oth­ers. He often assumed that well-craft­ed ideas would gain uni­ver­sal sup­port, only to feel dis­heart­ened when real­i­ty proved oth­er­wise. But even in dis­ap­point­ment, his belief in the poten­tial for progress rarely fad­ed. This resilience formed the back­bone of his civic work and per­son­al phi­los­o­phy.

Jenkin’s per­spec­tive on human nature was marked by deep opti­mism. He was reluc­tant to label any­one as tru­ly wicked, instead believ­ing that harm­ful behav­ior came from emo­tion­al weak­ness or an inabil­i­ty to under­stand oth­ers. Con­ver­sa­tions about ethics often revealed this trait—he resist­ed the idea that evil could exist with­out cause. Instead, he main­tained that com­pas­sion and bet­ter insight could resolve most human fail­ings. How­ev­er, one par­tic­u­lar exchange with a close friend chal­lenged this stance. Pressed to acknowl­edge the dark­er side of human behav­ior, Jenkin final­ly con­ced­ed that true mal­ice might exist—but only with vis­i­ble dis­com­fort. This moment exposed the depth of his faith in human decen­cy and his emo­tion­al strug­gle to accept cru­el­ty with­out jus­ti­fi­ca­tion.

Such con­vic­tions influ­enced not only his per­son­al life but also his approach to lead­er­ship. As a men­tor and col­lab­o­ra­tor, Jenkin pushed those around him to stretch their abil­i­ties, not through com­mand but by exam­ple. He mod­eled the kind of rig­or and imag­i­na­tion he want­ed oth­ers to adopt, mak­ing his expec­ta­tions feel like an invi­ta­tion rather than a demand. His col­leagues and stu­dents respond­ed not out of fear but from a desire to match his sin­cer­i­ty. Even those who ini­tial­ly resist­ed his meth­ods came to val­ue his integri­ty and the pur­pose behind his inten­si­ty. Through these dynam­ics, Jenkin cul­ti­vat­ed envi­ron­ments of learn­ing and improve­ment wher­ev­er he worked.

His abil­i­ty to find joy in dis­ci­pline made him both admired and beloved. Peo­ple trust­ed that his crit­i­cism was root­ed in a gen­uine desire to help them grow. They rec­og­nized that his high stan­dards came with equal mea­sures of encour­age­ment and sup­port. The pas­sion he brought to his projects inspired loy­al­ty. Whether in engi­neer­ing cir­cles or com­mu­ni­ty ini­tia­tives, Jenkin stood out not just for intel­lect but for the emo­tion­al weight he brought to every task. His abil­i­ty to uni­fy head and heart was what made him tru­ly mem­o­rable. In the end, his lega­cy wasn’t just tech­ni­cal progress—it was the rela­tion­ships and renewed hopes he left behind.