HARRY HELD, SR.

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HARRY HELD, SR. Peacefully, with his family by his side, our Dad, Harry Held of Winnipeg, departed this world after a surreptitious bout of cancer at the Riverview Heath Centre on Saturday, November 12, 2011. Dad was born August 10, 1928 in Sumowko, Poland and recently celebrated his 83rd birthday. Left to forever cherish Harry's memory are his children Harry Jr. (Butsch); Richard (Schnucki) with wife Kara (Marcia) and their children Garrett and Patrick; Lora (Munia) with husband Malcolm Harwood; Fred (Fritzi) - all of Winnipeg; Rose (Blondi) of Calgary; Heidi (Pudgkel) of Yellowknife; as well as his sister Edith Gnuschke of Bad Pyrmont, Lower Saxony; and numerous in-laws, nephews, nieces, relatives, friends and neighbours in Canada, the U.S., and Europe. At the end of the Second World War dad was detained by U.S. Forces in Italy where he was first sent after receiving the draft at age 17. He was transferred under his own defense for internment to the P.O.W. Camp at Bad Murnau, Bavaria. Making the best of its difficult and deplorable conditions, he was released and set out on foot to return home. After numerous arrests and detentions in the Russian Sector he eventually learned, along the losses of most of his family, of the wider losses of home and nationality and was directed by the Red Cross to the British Sector where his parents and little sister were taken in after expulsion. With no prospects for employment, decent lodgings or sufficient food, Dad was accepted for emigration to Canada after lengthy processing through a Displaced Persons Camp under the sponsorship of Friedrich (Fred) and Rosalie Schmidt of Waldersee, Manitoba through the agency of Canadian Lutheran World Relief in 1949. With seasonal work on the farmstead, Dad took jobs including timber cutting, construction, and taxi driving, eventually finding full employment with Winnipeg Supply and Service where he excelled in coal and oil burner installations. Admiring Mr. Schmidt's daughter, Ursula, from his first day in Winnipeg, Harry and she married on April 18, 1953. Together their love blossomed into a large family, business and community life. In 1955 they started Held's Heating Ltd., which grew to an industry leader for over 40 years pioneering natural gas fuel products and service. In the mid 1960s Harry, together with partners, established Guaranteed Homes which played a major role in Winnipeg's new housing market. In the early 1970s Harry established new ventures, one with a New Zealand architect and two others with many of his existing partners. These were: Domus Technik Construction of Manitoba with extended operations in Texas; H B Imports and Exports and the introduction to Canada of PVC profile extrusions in a consortium of Hefed Holdings and Winco Industries which they developed into Duraco Windows for the Manitoba market. In the early 1980s Dad began divesting his business interests which he mostly completed by the end of the decade as he phased in his retirement. Community activity and service role highlights included memberships to the German Society of Winnipeg, the Lutheran Church of the Cross serving on its council shortly after joining with multiple terms as chairman, presiding over the mortgage burning in 1975 and the negotiative planning and founding of the Arms of the Cross Inc. seniors residence serving both on its Building Committee and Directorship as its first chairman for multiple terms. He belonged to the German Business and Professional Association of Manitoba serving on its executive with multiple chairmanships participating in achieving growth in Post Secondary Scholarship fundraising and the establishment of the German Studies Chair at the University of Winnipeg. Harry also served on the executive of the Quadra Business Club and was an active member of the Housing and Urban Development Association of Canada and the Canadian House Builders Association. Harry had a keen interest in current and historic events and honoured the opportunities to personally meet and sometimes work with political, diplomatic, business, scientific, military and religious leaders. His essential focus remained with his customers, employees, colleagues and to those for whom he took responsibility and enjoyment, particularly family relations and friends. His many endeavours took him extensively traveling, exceeding 1.5 million kilometers with countless acquaintances. He always felt most at home in Manitoba with its wide horizons and prospects for tolerance, opportunity and freedom. The rather sudden terminal diagnosis and death of Harry leaves a profound loss in many hearts into which he filled a spot both great and small. By God's grace he shall fulfill his faith to be at one again with those dear, previously departed souls: the love of his life Ursula Rosalie, our Mum, in 2000; brothers Waldemar, Felix, Erhart, Hermann, and brother-in-law Adolf, all in the last months of 1944; father Hermann (1974); mother Emma (1989); sister Lily Neumann (2002) and her husband Arnold (2003) - all of Oberhausen, N.R. Westfalia; niece Krista (1999) of Düsseldorf, N.R. Westfalia, and brother-in-law Günther Gnuschke (2002) of Bad Pyrmont, Lower Saxony. On Friday, November 18, 2011 Harry's Funeral Service will be held at 1:00 p.m. in Lutheran Church of The Cross, 560 Arlington Street at Ellice Avenue, with Pastors Kolleen Karlowsky-Clark and Leon Gilbertson officiating. Interment will immediately follow after the service in Chapel Lawn Cemetery, 4000 Portage Avenue. To the staff who tended to Dad's needs with compassion and diligence at Riverview, the family expresses heartfelt thanks. In lieu of flowers, donations in Harry's memory may be made to Riverview Health Centre Foundation (Palliative Care), 1 Morley Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R3L 2P4 or the Canadian Cancer Society (Manitoba Division), 193 Sherbrook Street, Winnipeg, MB R3C 2B7.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Nov 17, 2011