Fritz Helmut Baumann

Fritz passed away peacefully at the Good Samaritan Stony Plain Care Centre on Monday, Nov 2, 2020 at the age of 93 years.

Fritz was born in Birkholz, Pomerania on May 20, 1927 the middle child of three. He came of age just as WWII  was ending and served in the German army very briefly and became a prisoner of war. Because he had experience farming, he was released from the POW camp to work on a widow’s farm near Lengerich, Germany. It was there that he met life-long friends Erwin Dreifke and Heinz Scheil and the three decided to come to Canada through Canadian Lutheran World Relief.  Fritz arrived in Canada in August 1952 and spent just over one year on the Fred Rathgeber farm in MacNutt, SK.  In October 1953 he joined Erwin in Calgary and immediately started working for Jefferies Concrete Products which later became Consolidated Concrete. Fritz was a very loyal employee and worked there for 36 years.

While attending English classes he once again met Ursula Bergmann, whom he had already met as a refugee in Lengerich.  They married August 27, 1955 and spent 57 years together before her passing in 2013. Daughter Ingrid was born in 1959 and Karen in 1963.

Fritz was always a very hard worker to ensure his family was well looked after. His true passion and hobby, however, was gardening. He enjoyed the beauty of the flowers he grew, the flavour of his tomatoes and the bounty of his fruit trees. Having grown up on an orchard he was skilled in pruning and grafting and, as such, had six different apples on two trees in his yard.  After Ursula died he continued preserving the fruits of the harvest and even baking bread. He also enjoyed camping and fishing. If something needed to be fixed, he always came up with ingenious ways to do so. He enjoyed spending time with his grandchildren and sharing poems and sayings  he had learned in his younger years.

As an active member of St. Matthew Lutheran Church, he spent many years as the lead tenor of the German choir.

He is lovingly remembered by daughters Ingrid Baumann of Calgary and Karen Kubke (Roland) of Parkland County, AB; grandchildren Lukas (Christine) Kubke of Parkland County, AB, Willem (Larissa) Kubke of Edmonton, Marion Timm (Alex) of Dryden, ON and Jakob Kubke in Halifax, NS; and great-granddaughters Brooke and Stevie, and great-grandsons Caleb and Boaz.

A Funeral Service will be held at St. Matthew Lutheran Church (66 - 7 Street N.E.) on Friday, November 6, 2020 at 11:00 am with Rev. Markus Zeuch officiating. Interment to follow in the Mountain View Cemetery. Memorial donations may be made directly to St. Matthew Lutheran Church.