Obituary of HANS BOYENS

Hans Boyens August 7, 1931 – December 1, 2013 During the difficult months of his decline, it was sometimes hard to remember Hans had enjoyed a long, vibrant and eventful life. In his 82 years, he straddled both sides of the Atlantic, learned a brand-new career, and, later, embraced a second family. Hans was born in Harblek-Oldenswort, a small farming community in northern Germany close to the North Sea. He grew up in the war years when life had to be managed without fathers, and hunger was routine even on the farm as harvests were appropriated for the Nazi war effort. The challenges of his formative years left Hans with a lifelong distrust of political parties and organizations. As a young man, Hans learned a trade as a pasteurizer. And he met and married Elly Wizenty, a refugee from the East. But in post-war Germany, jobs and lodging were hard to find. In 1957, Hans and Elly packed up their meagre belongings and their two-year-old daughter, Ingeborg, and set sail for Canada. Those early years in Winnipeg were hard. Hans had to settle for the kind of menial jobs that new immigrants always seem to be stuck with. Eventually, he was successful in finding work in his field at Standard Dairies and Crescent Creamery. But with his characteristic determination and improved English, he pushed for more. In 1967, after earning the necessary certificates, he became a City of Winnipeg health inspector checking out downtown restaurants and housing. He worked with the city until his early retirement in 1986, proud that he had risen above manual work. In the optimistic 1960s, Hans and Elly put their hard-earned dollars into buying a piece of bush along Lake Winnipeg. Using pure grit, they cleared the lot of poplars and ash trees and built a cottage with a view of the lake – all by hand and without the luxury of electricity or power tools. “The lake” was the place where Hans learned how to build virtually anything, how to distinguish the call of a wren from that of a chickadee, and how to plant a garden with tender shoots that somehow thrived even in the cold Manitoba soil. After Elly passed away in 1987 from a longstanding, chronic disease, Hans was lost. . . until he met Helga Krueger. They were married in 1992 and enjoyed a comfortable retirement with annual trips south. Helga brought a bigger family into Hans’s orbit complete with grandchildren. Left now to mourn his passing are Helga, her sons Dieter (Darlene), Eric (Joanne), grandchildren Holly, Ben and Monica, brother-in-law Harry and sister-in-law Annette. And his daughter from his first marriage, Ingeborg (Gregg). Hans was predeceased by his parents, his sister Elke, and many of the friends who served as family in the early years. Hans was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in the mid-1980s. Although he suffered near-constant pain, he stoically pushed on achieving more in a typical day than most able-bodied people. It was finally cancer that felled Hans’s indomitable spirit. May he now rest in peace. Many thanks to the staff on S1 at Concordia Hospital for the care they offered to make Hans’s last days comfortable. A memorial service will be held at Cropo Funeral Chapel at 1442 Main St. on Saturday, Dec. 7 at 10 a.m. In lieu of flowers, consider a contribution to mark Hans’s love of animals to The Winnipeg Humane Society, 45 Hurst Way, Winnipeg, R3T 0R3.