We always enjoyed our visits with Pat and Robin, Werner and Lise whether it was a visit to the farm in Armstrong where we were always so welcome or in Terrace when they came up for visits when the Sharples family got together.  We even had a chance to cross-country ski with Werner up at the Larch Hills ski area many years ago!

It brings a smile to our faces when we talk about the story of Werner and Figgy.  Fig was our cat up in Terrace and Werner and Lise were up for a visit with Pat and Robin and they went to Kitimat with their truck and camper to go river fishing for a few days.  They returned from their trip only a couple of hours later when it turned out that Figgy had taken a liking to the back of Werner's camper.  Listening to Werner tell the story of driving to Kitimat and then opening up his camper and to his surprise seeing our cat in the back always makes us laugh. 

We will always remember Werner's passion for everything (except for cats!) including his love of fishing and the outdoors, trips to the Yukon and visits with Brooke and Kate.  

Love,
Patty, Jamie, Joshua, Aedan (and Fig!) 

I became a friend of Werners when we “walked the creek” for Fortune Creek drainage – checking for beaver and blockages.  We discovered many mutual interests – cows, calving, haycrops, gardening, and going to Valley Auction.  Werner and Lisa became very good friends of ours.  Werner was thoughtful, generous, humerous – a good person.  We will miss him very much – and that includes “RINGO” our dog.  Everytime Werner visited our house he never forgot the treats for Ringo.  Werner thought Ringo would make a good Whitehorse dog and often said he should take him on one of his visits up north and walk the streets with him.  Our thoughts and prayers are with you,  all the family, at this time.  You have many wonderful memories of Werner.....We all do...

Barry and Shirley Gerlib

Ringo's going to miss Werner and treat of dog biscuits! 

I am so sorry to hear of Werners passing.  
I was lucky enough to meet Werner and Lisa through my parents.  We always enjoyed good converstaions and much laughter at the Swiss Club events.  
I particularly enjoyed taking my little girls to Werners farm where they saw their first turtles...they could hardly belive it-as if turtles only existed in storybooks!  It was clear that Werner was as excited as them; excited for them.  It was easy to tell that he would be a wonderful grandfather!  That same visit he presented me with a blackberry bush; its a lovely reminder of him.  I know he probably thought of the fun the girls would have picking blackberries in their own backyard and that is indeed still true so many years later.
My deepest condolences to you, Lisa and Patrick and family on the loss of a wonderful man.  

The sadness of Werner’s passing weighs heavily on our minds indeed. Lisa and Patrick must know we feel this sad situation and share in their grief. This sorrow will be with us for a long, long time I feel.

During the 30 some odd years we have known the Toblers, I have always marveled at Werner’s wonderful mind, particularly his memory of important items or events. He could talk to anyone and everyone about the many values of health foods. He was sensitive to the difference between the politics of Canada and Europe and was even informed on how iron ore is mined in Siberia. I was always amazed he knew so much about so many things and distinctly remembered them all. His opinions were valued and carefully kept for future use.

Now you should understand, on various occasions he had taught me the different subjects that interested him and myself. He had led the way on numerous purchases that I copied or learned from in the farming area or community projects.

 For instance, many years ago Werner bought a new round baler then demonstrated how wonderful it was. So, naturally I just up and bought myself one too. The smart thinking Werner had done it once again to make my farming life better. It was his nature to help others. To enhance the lives of people he knew.

 If, in the past, any neighbor or friend suffered a form of grief, Lisa and Werner were always on hand to lend a sympathetic ear, a soft voice of condolence or a helping hand to enable the anguish to pass more smoothly. Any favor, big or small asked of the Toblers was enthusiastically granted with smiles and well wishes.

Now lemme tell ya as to the dramatics of fishing, Werner knew how the individual fish thinks. He knew what those critters liked to eat and he even knew where the biggest and best fish like to eat their meals. I’m sure he had his favorite fishing spots although unfortunately, I never had the delight of going on an expedition into the wilds to test his skills. But I knew he had them. His wildlife photos on the internet were always an interest to us.

 We will certainly miss his soft voice. His quiet laughter with the twinkle in his eyes that comforted us to so many degrees of happiness will be greatly missed as well. I will miss his advice and announcements on any item or subject, be it cattle, creeks, rain or what the devilish Government presently has on its mind. It boggled my mind as to how many people in the valley knew Werner. From political, civil, cultural, environment or businesses Werner was familiar with them all . Everyone respected the Toblers.

As we all must pass one day, Werner’s un-traumatic exit from this world is a blessing in itself. I would like to believe he did not have immense suffering. I hope he knows we are thinking of him as friends that mourn in silence.

Rest in Peace Werner. We all did love your company so much.

Norm and Jackie Ouston

 Neighbor of the Wonderful Tobler Family.

A couple of hunting and fishing stories.  One day three of us guys went hunting deer up above Falkland, Werner, George and I.  We split up and arranged to meet at the same spot much later, only Werner never showed up.  We searched for a long time, finally went down to Falkland to phone my wife to see if she had heard anything from him. This was in the days before cell phones, in the early 80's. Well, my wife was alarmed and mostly mad that we had lost him.  She phoned Lisa on some pretence, not wanting to alarm her, and relayed the message to keep looking.  Finally, we drove all the way home to Armstrong, no Werner.  Getting pretty worried, drove back and saw him walking home along the highway.  Pretty happy then, but what he was doing up there we never knew, but I think he liked watching deer more than shooting any.  Can't remember if we went back to get his gun but we were really happy that we had "got our man". 

Now, fishing was a different story, we took our sons, they floated around by themselves in a small rubber raft.  They always caught the most and the biggest fish.  It was kinda embarrassing, and we tried to find out how they did it.  Years later, my son Matt, told us the secret, Pat and him "talked to the fish".  I guess we should have done the same instead of talking to each other.

Werner and I had lots in common, we both grew up in beautiful Switzerland in small villages but we wanted adventure after serviing our time in the army.  In Canada we found that, in the wildness and unlimited opportunities and we raised families.  I was a carpenter and helped Werner raise the logs on his house and he was a master cheese maker by trade.  He taught us all about the merits of good cheese, he should know, because he won many awards for his cheese making for Armstrong back east where they judged the best cheese in Canada.  
Werner said the best cheese was made from the milk of the cows in the Interior because they ate good grass.  

Kids loved Werner because he took a genuine interest in them.  Our kids, Shannon and Matt still remember the great times they had on the ice when the stream that ran through their farm froze over.   Werner cleared the snow and they enjoyed many hours playing hockey and skating.

Werner had a theory about hummingbirds, he was convinced they flew back on  top of the Canada geese when they migrated south in the fall, how else could those little birds fly down to S America.   So, we think about that when we see the hummingbirds to this day.

Werner had a good life.  He was a good friend.  


Our sincere condolences to Lisa and Pat and his family.  Rudy and family.                           

 

A wonderfull time was had on a week long hunting trip to the Vanderhoof area of B.C.  Lots of laughs , great companionship, and to top it all off, we came home with some moose meat

I will be forever grateful to have met Werner and Lisa on the soccer fields and ice rink in 1981 when we moved to Armstrong from Tsawwassen.  And I will miss all his stories, because he really knew how to tell one, either true or with a punch line at the end when you discovered it was a joke after all.   Rudy and I have so many good memories of our time together and even though we moved back to the mainland in 1986, the Tobler farm was never missed on our trips back to beautiful Armstrong and Spallumcheen.   Werner had a great hobby, wine making, and with his different berries, and grapes, always entered a bottle or two in the Armstrong Fair competition.  It was  in great anticipation to rush to the fair to see if a ribbon was placed on his bottle.   Last September, after a week road trip with my daughter we met Werner and Lisa at the fair for dinner on the picnic tables in the middle of the fairgrounds.  Werner always had a twinkle in his eye and loved to tease Shannon since a little girl so it was nice for him to meet our grand-daughters.  After we ate delicious Bratwurst in buns, a Swiss staple, Werner went off to his favourite vendor, to buy us all Horse Blankets to eat.   These are huge donut type pastries, as you can see from the photo I have attached.   My it was fun to see him again, and I remember him drawing me aside as we left the fairground and he talked about the 4H Swine Club where Patrick and our son Matthew attended as young boys.   This is where the boys raised wee pigs to huge pigs and trained them for competition in the fair at end of summer.  He said he was always grateful when Patrick attended the 4H Beef club and had to learn to speak in public, which benefited him in his later career in Fisheries.  He was so proud of Patrick. Werner and Lisa were off to a lake near Cherryville the next day to fish and camp with friends, fishing another passion of his.   And that was the last time I saw him, but I will never forget his kindness, great friendship and humbleness.  I will write a story for Rudy later, as I am sure he remembers a lot of hunting and fishy ones for everyone to enjoy. Those two had a lot in common, being new Canadians from Switerland.