Franc Pačnik was born on New Year’s Eve, 31 December 1928, in Stari trg near Slovenj Gradec. He spent his childhood and youth there. After primary school he took a job at the local measuring instruments factory, and after completing his military service he found work at the local post office. His future wife, Mihaela Peteržinek from Lovrenc, was working there at the time, and they married in 1955. The following year their son Danilo was born, and Mihaela then got a job at the post office in Lovrenc na Pohorju. In 1958 Franček also took a job there, and he served as postmaster until his retirement in 1987. Despite his demanding work commitments, he also found time for mountaineering, which had already attracted him while working at the Slovenj Gradec post office. He became a member of the Alpine Association of Slovenia in 1952. Together with like-minded colleagues at other post offices, he founded their own mountaineering group, and Franček was elected its leader. At the initiative of the group’s members, Poštarski dom (the Postal Workers’ Lodge) below Plešivec was built through diligent voluntary work and opened in 1955. He continued his mountaineering activities in Lovrenc, where a mountaineering group was founded in March 1967 within Planinsko društvo Ruše (Ruše Alpine Club). Soon afterwards, on 19 April 1970, they became independent and founded Planinsko društvo Lovrenc na Pohorju (Lovrenc na Pohorju Alpine Club). Franček was president of the club for three decades – until 2000 – and the following year he was named honorary president. The club was very successful, training many trail markers, mountain guides and mountain wardens. He organised interesting trips and hikes along various trails, which people were very keen to join. He is only seven stamps short of having completed the Slovenian Mountain Trail (formerly the Transversal) three times. He also walked the Trail of the Couriers and Signallers of the Slovenian National Liberation Army, which he himself helped to set up in 1968 and 1969. In addition, he successfully took on other local trails in Slovenia and even in the former Yugoslav republics. His greatest achievement is seventeen ascents of Triglav! Franček also left his mark on Lovrenc through his social and political activities. He served as a committee member of the TVD Partizan sports society and with the volunteer firefighters, sang in the choir and, as an authorised officiant, conducted civil weddings. Together with the writer, journalist and publicist Drago Vresnik and the teacher Ivo Požauk, he was a member of the commission that chose the names for the streets of Lovrenc. The new house numbers were introduced in 1973. For his work in various organisations and his tireless efforts for the good of his fellow residents, he received the highest professional and municipal awards. He loved sending postcards from his mountain travels, thereby combining his two life missions: his love of mountaineering and his dedication to the postal profession.
Since 29 April 2022 he and his wife have been living at Dom Hmelina in Radlje ob Dravi – close to his native Koroška and not far from his beloved Lovrenc. He remembers many details of his life well and surprises people with his detailed knowledge of the residents of Lovrenc from the time he spent among them. He is also a living encyclopaedia of events from the town’s recent past. He is still most drawn to the mountains, keeping in touch with them through television documentaries, which bring back memories of the trails and places he sees on screen. He follows events in our municipality regularly, and every month he calls to ask about the latest news from our beautiful town.
On his milestone birthday, Franček Pačnik deserves our admiration and sincere congratulations!
(summarised from an article by Mr Franc Verovnik)
