Obituaries

EMIL HEIN March 21, 1936 – October 29, 2024

Our incredibly sweet, loving, funny, best-in-the world Dad, Husband, Opa, passed away suddenly on October 29, 2024 at the age of 88. He left this life the way he always wanted to - in an instant - happy and healthy one moment and gone the next. It is hard to imagine the rest of our lives without him, but we are comforted knowing that someday we will have forever together. We thank Jesus for this hope and are so thankful to God for heaven and eternity!

Emil was born on March 21, 1936, in Furstenfeld, Romania, to his German parents Benjamin and Hulda. Because of the war they had to move around a lot when he was younger to Austria, Poland and then to Germany. After finishing grade 6, he went on to start his apprenticeship to become a furniture maker and carpenter. Even though he was young, his teachers were very impressed with his skills. These skills served him well later in life as he was sought out for being an incredible European Craftsman and did a lot of beautiful woodwork making custom kitchen cabinets, china-cabinets, circular staircases, custom bedroom furniture, intricate paneling, moldings and the like.

In 1957, when he was 21, he immigrated to Canada with his brother Rudy and soon after they were able to bring over his entire family. His love for the mountains began in Germany, where he travelled through the alps, and this passion continued in Canada when he discovered the beautiful Rocky Mountains. He did a lot of mountain climbing and later, when he had a family, did a lot of hiking. We remember how he always had a walking stick so us kids loved it when he also found us some walking sticks and used his swiss-army-knife to carve off the bark for a smooth hand hold so we could be just like him. Even as a family our hikes were ambitious and when we encountered others at the summit, they were surprised to see a whole family had made it up that far.

When he was 24, he was in a very serious car accident which made him revaluate his life. His good friend, Willy Resch, helped him realize God had saved him in the accident, and it was then that Emil started a lifelong relationship with Jesus Christ.

When he was 26, he moved to Kelowna, BC, where he loved being surrounded by mountains, a lake, warm weather and he loved all the orchards and fresh fruit (especially the cherries which his nieces called “tree candies”). He continued to do carpentry work, and also volunteered as a young adult leader at his church. In 1964 at Green Bay Bible Camp, he met the love of his life, Edda, who was visiting from Medicine Hat. Not long after they were married on July 3rd, 1965, and moved to Calgary due to the work opportunities there. Emil and Edda had 3 daughters and often when others would ask him, “what only daughters” he would always wink and say, “yup 3 girls but the boys will come later”.

In Calgary they had a wonderful group of friends they did life with that they met at the German Baptist Church they joined (now called Thornhill Baptist Church) where Emil become the volunteer leader of a group they called “the Young Married Couples”. Emil planned many wonderful summer camping weekends that all the young married couples and their kids attended, and we all have such special memories of those times. Even when they later moved to Kelowna (when their kids were almost grown) they stayed in touch with these friends who often came to visit, and Emil was very thankful for such special lifelong friendships!

Emil worked very hard, but he did not let that get in the way of enjoying life. He loved travelling and every year we would have the most wonderful road trip camping vacations in our maxi-van. Emil would always buy the longest van available and then would build it out custom in such a way that he could take out the beds, benches and cabinets when using it for work but could then put everything in to provide the most wonderful camping experience. We visited so many great places in the US and Canada and a local favorite on long weekends was Fairmont/Radium Hot Springs. Emil made the long drives very easy on his family as he loved to drive very early in the morning when few people were on the highway so us kids would just sleep in the bed (the days before seat belts were required) and by the time we woke up we would often already be at our next destination. Emil and Edda saved up and took the family on an epic 5-week vacation to Germany in the summer of 1980 where we were able to meet a lot of family still living there and got to see where they grew up.

This love for travel continued even when all of Emil’s girls were married and had kids of their own. Emil’s family still loved to travel with him and Edda and invited them on cruises, a trip to Hawaii, and even in their senior years they had many great trips together with their kids and grandkids to beautiful places like Revelstoke, Radium, Fairmont, Canmore, Victoria and Banff.

Emil was happy to have the opportunity to move back to Kelowna in 1986 with Edda and his 2 younger daughters (as the oldest was off to university) and ended up working up at Big White Ski Resort for many years where he was so proud to be able to utilize his European Craftsman skills to build all sorts of great creations the designers tasked him with. He became a big hit on the ski hill when he learned to ski in his late 50’s and his daughters were amazed when they went to ski with him, and he went speeding past them always beating them to the bottom!

Emil loved life and enjoyed many things including chess, fishing, wine making (he called his special wine “fence wine” because the grapes he used grew along a fence), Star Wars, Star Trek, and a favorite past time was playing card games, with the family favorite being Rook. Even in his final years, when a stroke caused mild dementia, Emil was still advanced in his Rook strategy and continued to love playing cards when family came to visit him and Edda. Emil also loved to make others laugh with his great sense of humor and this was a quality that made him so beloved, even at his retirement residence, as he would tell jokes or have great punch lines, even in unexpected situations, and was always bringing smiles and laughter to those around him.

Emil had so many great qualities but the one that stands above them all it that he loved well! He loved and adored his wife Edda and took care of her so well even in her later years when health problems meant she needed more help. He loved and believed in his children and always encouraged us and cheered us on. He taught us how much God loves us and demonstrated how that love should be poured out to others. He was always providing a job to someone in need, a place to stay, help with work that needed to be done, words of encouragement, a listening ear, and many other kindnesses we were not even privy to. He saw past the flaws in others and saw their great value – the way God see’s us!

He will be deeply missed by the family he has left behind. His wife of almost 60 years Edda; his daughter Darlene (Darren) and their children Tanner and Kiara; his daughter Monica (David) and their son Scott; his daughter Rose (Ray) and their daughters Emily and Rachel; his sister Linda; his brothers-in-law Reinhold and John (Sheila); his sister-in-law Lilly; as well as cousins and many nieces and nephews.

Emil is predeceased by his parents Benjamin and Hulda; his sister Hildegard; his brother Rudy and his brother-in-law Ben.

Our hearts have a hole where someone completely irreplaceable is missing but we rejoice in knowing we will see him again someday!

• Nov 29, 2024
  Such a beautiful life story! Hugs to all of you - especially your mom <3 I hope all your wonderful memories fill that hole until you're reunited in Glory. Love you so much!
  
  Cindy - [email protected]

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