June 18, 1923 – January 14, 2020
at the age of 96 years
A graveside service will be held at the Solsqua Cemetery, Sicamous, April 4, 2020, 2:00 p.m.
Reverend Ann Meakes officiating
With saddened hearts, we announce the passing of Henry Wanner on January 14, 2020, a long time resident of Sicamous, at the age of 96.
Henry left larger than life tracks for us to follow on our way.
Henry was born in Linz, Austria in 1923, raised by foster parents, he excelled in schooling, finishing two years ahead of his classmates. He was in the Navy at the young age of 17, he then became a police officer. Henry immigrated to Canada in 1951, with abilities to speak both French and English.
Henry started as a logger on the BC coast changing careers to underground mining at Keno hill, Yukon. He worked Barkerville, Hope, Merritt, to the building of the Mica and Revelstoke dams where he was a heavy construction supervisor until his retirement.
He met his wife Emma in Revelstoke and they were married in Barkerville in 1958. Henry settled in Sicamous in 1965, as to him, Sicamous was beautiful and reminded him of his Austria home place. It became a place in his heart to raise his family. He lived a long life, but dementia slowly robbed his quality of life. Henry was a private person, with a huge heart and a kind soul. He loved family, friends, fishing, hunting, gardening, wood gathering and the building of two homes in Sicamous. At the age of 80 he could still outwork anyone more than half his age even with his crippling arthritis in his knees and hands. He liked playing bridge and was a relentless crib player (out for the kill). He enjoyed reading Louis L’Amour, sipping rum, Yvonne’s sugar cookies and making home brewed beer.
Henry was predeceased by his wife Emma and son in law Ernie Smith. He is survived by his children Yvonne, Norman (Heather) and Kevin (Leslie), grand children Ryan, Sarah, Kodey (Shealy), Jill, Mandy and Tricia, great grandchildren Maddison, Layton, Becket, Hazel, Zackery, Cutrina, Isik, Libby and Miley as well as life long family friend Bob Schager who always took time out to just spend time with Henry.
Thanks to Eric Schuller who’s daily visits were very appreciated. Special thanks to staff and management of the Sicamous Manor as they far exceeded the expectations of helping Henry stay in his town for as long as they could.
A graveside service will be held at the Sicamous Cemetery in spring to reunite Henry and Emma.
Love lives on forever,
in each memory and thought,
of the special ones who meant so much
and the happiness they brought.
Love lives on forever,
it will never fade away,
For in our hearts, our loved ones
are with us every day.
God speed Dad
I remember when Mr. Wanner would ride his three wheeler, we’d stop & shoot the breeze about traffic & his knees.
He was a good man & I’ll miss him.
I have many fond memories,growing up close to the Wanner Family.My sincerest Condolences for the Loss of your Father.
We were very sad to hear of Henry’s passing. Henry was my Dad’s very good friend starting from when they worked the logging camp together and then in Wells, working underground in the gold mine. Henry was my parents’ (Rosemarie and Fritz Zoernack) best man when they married in Barkerville in 1953. He spent many hours with them, enjoying my Mom’s cooking and baking, playing cards, and lifting a many a glass! When I was born a year later, he became my godfather. Unfortunately after we moved to Prince George in 1956, they saw much less of each other, although we would go back most summers. Your Dad enjoyed duck hunting and trained a lovely weimaraner to retrieve his downed birds. We adopted Senta after a near drowning made her afraid of the water. She was a wonderful part of my childhood. My parents often talked of those early days as full of great friends and wonderful adventures. My Dad passed away in 2018 and Mom still looks at the photos of those times with fondness.. even with her dementia she has vivid memories of the parties, village dances, the unbelievable amounts of snow, baking using a wood stove, canoeing and fishing on the Bowron Lakes, outside plumbing, the grizzlies and the mosquitoes! They agreed that life in Canada, far from family and all that was familiar, was worth the hardship and the hard work! We were lucky to have amazing parents who were willing to leave the old country for a chance at a better life. My sincerest condolences for your loss!
Yvonne, Norman and Kevin, I’m so sorry to hear about your Dad. Your Dad was my Dad’s best friend and now they are playing crib again, having a drink and singing, along with your Mom and the others who are no longer with us. Sending Love and Hugs to you all – Vickie (Mahringer) Head
Diana (my wife) and I are saddened to hear about the recent passing of Henry. When my parents immigrated to Canada from Stuttgart, Germany in the spring of 1955, Henry kindly drove his car with my aunt Rosemarie Zoernack from Wells, BC to Ashcroft to pick us up from the train station there. Henry delivered us to Wells through the blazing heat and dust along the “highway” system of the day, where he and my father eventually worked together as a team (pair) doing underground hard rock gold mining. Although I was only going on 4 years old, I can still recall the raucous shouting and laughter of late night card games involving Henry, my uncle and aunt (Fritz and Rosemarie Zoernack) and my parents (Alexander and Hildegard Inselberg) at our small house in Wells! The air was thick with cigarette smoke too.
We were in Wells for only one year, before moving to nearby Prince George where my father took on various drafting jobs before eventually getting his Canadian Architectural papers in the early 1960s. Through the years and decades there would be news now and then about Henry’s work in the Yukon, and his later work on the big dams near Revelstoke. My father always maintained that Henry was the BEST mining partner — he knew everything about the equipment and the blasting powder they used to do their underground hard rock gold mining. They worked well together, earning substantial bonuses for all the ore they delivered.
Many decades later (early 1990s) my parents reunited briefly with Henry in Sicamous at his house. After my father’s passing in 1994, years later (2008) my mother moved to Sicamous to be closer to her daughter (Michelle “Mika” Simpson and son-in-law Richard in Sicamous) as well as Diana and me in Enderby. There were a number of happy follow-up gathering in Sicamous with Henry, Fritz & Rosemarie Zoernack, and my mother (Hildegard), and her family.
For my mother, who passed away in October 2015 at the age of 95 (her final years were at Eagle Valley Manor in Sicamous), that first year in Wells, with all the kind, welcoming people there and the scenic subalpine forest surroundings, remained the most memorable and magical of her 60 years of life in Canada!