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DOCTOR GEORGE SIEMENS
Born: May 31, 1907
Date of Passing: Dec 29, 2004
Send Flowers to the Family Offer Condolences or MemoryDOCTOR GEORGE SIEMENS died on December 29, 2004, at Parkview Hospital in Pueblo, Colorado. In keeping with his wishes, his remains were cremated after a private visitation by the immediate family. He was born Gerhard Johan Siemens on May 31, 1907, on the family farm near Altona, Manitoba, Canada, and received his early schooling at Schoenthal Elementary and Altona High School. He earned his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from the University of Manitoba and taught in public schools in Rosenfeld and Transcona before he became Principal of Winkler Collegiate from 1940 to 1944. He received his Ph.D from the University of Toronto in 1947, then taught at the University of Toledo, Ohio from 1947 until 1967, becoming full Professor in 1957 and Chairman of the Biology Department in 1962. In the summer of 1960 he taught comparative anatomy at the University of British Columbia. In 1968 he was hired by the University of Colorado at Denver as Professor of genetics and after a stint as a visiting professor at University of Redlands, California, in 1969, he continued to teach at UCD until his retirement in 1976. Dr. Siemens presented papers at international genetics conferences in Europe and Mexico City, and was named Director of the Genetics and Hereditary Counselling Service at the University of Colorado in 1970. Following his retirement, he joined the Peace Corps and was assigned to Brazil, to contribute his expertise in genetics at the University of Recife. All who met George Siemens, including his many students, were touched and influenced by his personality and spirit; his sense of humor, lively curiosity, warm interest in people, and his profound and original ideas. He revered nature and cared deeply about the world and the future of its inhabitants. Well-read in a broad range of subjects, he was particularly fond of philosophy and poetry. Like one of his favorite writers, Henry David Thoreau, his greatest satisfaction was to build a cabin in the woods where he could ponder the essential facts of life. George Siemens was predeceased by his parents; his ten brothers and sisters; and by his wife Margaret Toews Siemens whom he married in 1933 and who died in 1974. He is survived by two daughters, Helen Walker-Hill and Sylvia Siemens; two grandsons, Gregory Walker and Ian Walker and two great-grandsons, Grayson and Dashiel.
As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Feb 12, 2005
Condolences & Memories (2 entries)
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What a wonderful long life. Dr. Siemens was my professor in comparative anatomy and human genetics at the University of Colorado At Denver in the early 1970s. I especially enjoyed and appreciated his philosophical lectures during our regular class schedules and of course his humor. He had a way about him that was not aloof and he did not pontificate. He shared his experience and was in every way enlightened. He was indeed a scholar, a humanist and a lover of Nature. I make tribute to him in my PhD dissertation (1997 ... that I received late in life like Dr. Siemens) as one of the people that influenced my life deeply. After I finished with UCD, we held a book club at his cabin in the Evergreen area (Little Cub Creek Rd.?). Those were times I looked forward to every month. I also met him at the graduation of his daughter Helen in Boulder. And of course, his lovely daughter Sylvia who I met before I left for San Diego. I had no more contact with Dr. Siemens after ca. 1980 to my dismay. However, I always tried to find where he is living... with the internet today, many things are possible... then I found this obituary and I was deeply saddened. My life was better because of him. Please say hello to Sylvia too and hope she is well. - Posted by: Louis Hornyak (Student and friend) on: Apr 10, 2015
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Dr. Siemens was my father's cousin. When Dr. Siemens left Winkler in 1944, my father bought the house that his cousin had built and joined the teaching staff of the Winkler Collegiate. I have fond memories of a visit that my brother Reynold and I had with George in his Toledo home during the years that Reynold and I were pursuing doctoral studies in English.He impressed me as a kindly, humane and thoughtful man. - Posted by: lloyd siemens (Family) on: Feb 12, 2005