January 22, 1933 - August 13, 2023
With a love for life and adventure, her wise advice to the very end was: "Stay positive" & "Do everything with love in your heart".
Born in Woldenberg, Germany, and displaced during WW2 to Hereford, West Germany, she found life-long connections with Seventh-Day Adventist youth. As "Houshalterin" for Austrian and German families she mastered the arts of gardening, baking, and hospitality.
She fell in love with Manfred Spieker, a steamfitter from Osnabruck - the beginning of a passionate and indelible partnership of 58 years. Emigrating in 1957 to Vancouver, family life followed to a home overlooking the river in North Surrey she loved and remained in for 60 years.
She raised her family of 5 children with laughter, dedication and affection, and was the ultimate European social host, expressing authentic German culture through language, food and incredible baking. She had infectious energy, positivity, and was an inspiration to anyone she made memories with.
She is also remembered through decades of participation and mission works with the Abbotsford Pathfinders and Surrey SDA Church. Her career as Dietary Aide with Queens Park Care Centre, led to years of lively retirement, hosting guests and travelling the west coast in a Volkswagen pop-up van with her sweetheart, "Schatze".
Widowed in 2011, her love of family, 8 grandchildren, and the Surrey multi-ethnic community, left another wealth of Oma's gifts, optimism, and memories to be forever cherished.
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