I'm thinking fondly of Uncle Harry today on his birthday. Much love to you, Christiaan!

Happy Birthday Daddy. I knew this day would be hard. I still miss you so much. I find myself reaching to call you every time I take a long drive somewhere and then have to stop myself because I know you aren't there to answer. This is so hard.

I have a lot of memories, from the time we moved to Edmonton in 1968, going forward. Our families spent many holidays together. Also, I remember many, many hours of rocking Christiaan to sleep as a baby, since he spent the first few years of his life {several days a week} in our home, while his parents worked. Having a baby in our home was a dream come true for myself as a young teenager. Much later, as I had my own family, Christiaan spent many hours playing with my own children, teaching them how to build with Legos. Several years ago at a family Christmas celebration that Harry and Christiaan were a part of, we performed musical presentations. That year I "tried" playing a selection on the clarinet. A few weeks later, I remember my uncle Harry maneuvering his way through the crowd, up to the front of church (after the service) and hunted me down to present me with a CD of some "real" clarinet music - Mozart's Clarinet Concerto! To this day, I treasure that CD - I have the music in my car, and whenever that selection comes on, I am thrilled. It always reminds me of my uncle Harry! He did love good classical music! ♫♪♫♪

Remembering my friend Harry

Many, many, many years ago, the Winnipeg choir would come annually to Edmonton for Labor Day weekend services to what was called "Jugendtreffen" - a meeting of youth. Among the Winnipeg contingent was my friend Harry. Harry appeared to have been the only chap in the entire German Church of God movement in Canada who actually owned a regulation size and weight leather football. And, before the services commenced, the "Winnipeg Blue Bombers" would square off against the "Edmonton Eskimos". The "Eskimos", being the home team, usually had to re-assign some of their draft choices to the "Bombers". As well, the "Bombers" suffered from "roadlag" - not too many jets in the sky at that time. Who won isn't important. Good times and good friendships ensued.

In February 1963, when my studies had taken me to Stanford, Harry wrote that he was looking forward to joining me in California. Plans change ....

Christiaan and Diem, may the God of all comfort, comfort you in your grief and loss.

I have been blessed with a number of very special uncles and Uncle Harry was one of them. I have so many happy memories of him and I owe him so much. I remember how much time he devoted to Randy and me when we were little. He took us on many a Sunday-afternoon adventure, and made us cool toys with things from his lab. I particularly remember one neat balancing toy involving a graduated cylinder and some pipettes! He was a wonderful photographer and some of our best childhood photos were taken by him. I am grateful that he gave me such a wonderful cousin, Christiaan, and that I was his babysitter of choice! Uncle Harry had an amazing record collection and after Christiaan was asleep I would listen to my favourites. In fact, I actually wore out his LP of Mozart’s Horn Concertos because I played it so often. One night, instead of paying me for babysitting, he gave me my own copy of the record! Thank you so much for everything, my dear Uncle Harry! I will miss you!

Dear Christian and Diem! Wishing you our condolences on the passing of your Dad/ Dad-in law! May the memories that you made together give you comfort at this time! Brian, Marnita Sonnenberg with James, Julia and Keith.

Harry's dedicated contribution to the community is surely a path hard to follow. May he rest in peace.

Rest in peace.

I remember the first time I met Harry - I was so nervous because I wanted to leave a good impression and was intimidated by how accomplished he was, after hearing all the stories Christiaan had told me about Harry.

When I met him, Harry was so warm and inclusive that my nervousness quickly dissipated. I didn't feel judged - which people tend to do with first impressions - instead, I just remember meeting a compassionate, kind-hearted man who genuinely cared about getting to know me as a person. Over the years, Harry has not once passed judgment on me despite the many mistakes I have made and despite my many flaws. He has only passed on whole-hearted love and appreciation of me as his daughter-in-law.

That first night, Harry even made dinner from scratch from one of his own recipes to welcome me: giant, delicious hamburgers with diced onions. That evening was such a simple evening, but it was one of my favorite memories with Harry.

To my loving father,

You were my greatest champion. You were always there for me through thick and thin. You always supported me in everything I ever did. You always knew what was important to me.

A huge hole in my heart has been left behind. The pain of losing a parent never truly goes away--hopefully it becomes more bearable over time. That feeling of loss will be a constant reminder to love my family unconditionally. It will be a reminder to stay connected to my family because that's all we truly have.

Your kindness toward others is truly inspirational and was your greatest attribute. Your memory, and your presence in my heart will help me imbue that kindness to others. Thank you for this final lesson in life.

I will treasure your memory forever. Your loving son, Christiaan.