Good morning. I’m so grateful to all of you who have taken the time to join us in celebrating the life of my father, Wilhelm Gerhard. My name is Gorden, and today I represent my mother, my father’s five children and the rest of the extended family in reading this eulogy.
On Monday evening, July 10th, Wilhelm Gerhard, went to be with His Lord and Saviour. We feel great sorrow at the loss of such a prayer warrior and our loving father, grandfather, and great grandfather but also feel joy in knowing that he lived well, he prayed hard, he led by example and his legacy of faith lives on through his children and grandchildren.
Wilhelm was born on November 27th in 1922 in Wolhynien, Polen. As a young child he spent many years working on his parent’s farm. As a young boy he had to tend to the cows in the forest.
During the Second World War he had a very difficult life, grabbed from his home at the age of 16, becoming a teenage soldier, sent into Russia where he was captured and mistreated for five years, rarely hearing from his family during those ten years. After his release from a Russian POW camp on March 30th, 1949, he was reunited with his family in Germany and found work at the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg, Germany.
In May of 1949 he was able to join other Christian believers who had rented a bus to go to Stedebergen for evangelical services. It was during these services that my dad accepted Jesus Christ as his personal saviour. During the Pfingstfest in Herford, our dad was baptized by Brother Rudolf Fichtenberg.
In May of 1953 he boarded a ship to immigrate to Canada. He first landed in Quebec and then took the train across Canada to British Columbia, settling in Chilliwack where, on March 13, 1954 he married Gerda Engelbrecht. The Lord blessed their marriage with two children, Hildegard Fechner and Helmut Gerhard. Tragically the Lord took the mother of his children to His heavenly home in February of 1962. Wilhelm was left a widower with two young children. It was a difficult time and he was thankful for the help from his mother and mother-in-law.
Later that year dad moved to Edmonton where he married Hildegard Jeske on September 22, 1962. The Lord blessed their marriage with three boys, Gorden, Elbert and Darcy. Our parents were married for more than 54 years. They both loved nature, and gardening was a wonderful hobby for them, which also helped feed our family. As adults, we all benefitted from their help with planting, tending and harvesting our own gardens. Mom remembers working side by side building a home together, landscaping together, taking daily walks together and praying together. He was steadfast and reliable and a pillar in her life. She will miss him very much.
Dad loved trees and woodwork. He worked as a carpenter for most of his career and built a lot of furniture for his family. Some of the special handmade items my sons have enjoyed are a rocking chair, large toy box and a rocking horse. He also built a playhouse and gazebo alongside our family at our Winnipeg home. These pieces, along with his legacy will continue to pass down the generations. In fact, he has a few grandsons pursuing carpentry as a trade, following in their Opa’s footsteps.
Dad has attended this church in Edmonton for almost 55 years. You are his family and we thank you for taking such good care of him. When we were still children at home, dad would polish our dress shoes every Saturday, and wash the car most Saturdays so that we were all organized and ready for church on Sunday. Dad was adamant that we do devotions together as a family and that we attend church and learn about His Lord and Saviour. His relationship with Christ was the most important thing to him and every single visit with him always ended with his praying for us and letting us know that he wants to meet us in heaven one day. We would often observe him on Sunday afternoons, praying in the pantry at home. He found his prayer closet – one of many. Sometimes his praying felt long to us as children and grandchildren, but ultimately, we appreciate and treasure his prayers and his concern for our eternal souls, because that, as we see today, is what ends up being of most value.
Upon hearing of dad’s passing, one of the first feelings of loss I had was that we lost not just a father, but a prayer warrior who prayed for all of us multiple times a day. God has protected us, especially when I survived a horrific plane crash two years ago, and God has blessed us and we know much of that is a result of those praying for us. We are so grateful dad is reunited with his parents and siblings and most of all, with His Lord Jesus, but we also feel loss. And I know that you as a church also feel this loss. One thing we have heard over and over in the past year is how many of you were blessed by his prayers here in the church. This has been a tremendous consolation for us – thank you for sharing this. His spiritual legacy will never be forgotten.
Wilhelm’s grandchildren also have many fond memories of him. Especially memorable are the memories of how active he was into his old age. At the age of 80 he went kneeboarding, behind Corina’s seadoo, with his grandchildren in BC. He watched everyone else do it and said “Das kann ich auch machen.” And sure enough, he hung on and had a wonderful time. My family has him on videotape, tobogganing with our boys while he was well into his 80s and one time he had a pretty epic wipeout, doing multiple somersaults through the air, with no injury to his body. He played Frisbee and catch with his grandchildren and even swam across the entire length one of the smaller lakes in Manitoba with his grandson. He insisted on carrying his own luggage and items and only in the last few years did he finally admit his strength was waning.
As his body weakened, his mind stayed sharp, right until his last day. Just three weeks before his death, all five of his children were able to make it to Edmonton to spend father’s day weekend with him and with each other. Some of dad's children live in Edmonton, but others live in BC and Manitoba, so we had not had a full family reunion in almost 15 years. We praise God for allowing us this special weekend. My very last hour with dad was spent kneeling beside him in a time of prayer, hugs, words of spiritual enrichment and a good bye. His message to all of us in his last days over and over again was to make sure that we do our part to ensure that we will see each other again in Heaven. His words, which we will never forget: “Seid bereit - das wir uns droben wieder sehen.”
In 2009 my father wrote an autobiography of his life. He ended it with these verses from Psalm 107, verses 1 and 2:
“Danket dem Herrn; Denn Er is freundlich, und seine Guete waehret ewiglich. So sollen sagen, die erloest sind durch den Herrn, die Er aus der Not erloest hat.”
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story - those he redeemed from the hand of the foe.”
Wilhelm Gerhard is survived by his loving wife, Hildegard, five children, eight grandchildren and five great grandchildren as well as in-laws and nieces and nephews. He will be greatly missed by all including his church family.
"Papa – bis wir uns droben wieder sehen."
"Meine Heimat is dort in der Hoeh"
Gerhard grandsons as pallbearers
"There is Coming a Day"