Obituary of Gottlieb Lehmann

Obituary A private service will be held on Saturday, May 8, 2021 at 2:30 pm. For those not able to attend, they may Click Here to watch the service. Gottlieb Lehmann was born on August 3, 1933 to his parents Hedy (Reber) and Fritz Lehmann, in Linden, Kanton Bern in Switzerland. He was the eldest of six children. Dad loved the valley where he was born, the surrounding Mountains of Everlasting Snow as they called them, the Alps which showed up on a clear day. It was a beautiful setting for him as he helped his parents with their small farm, and absorbed the lives and culture of the people around him. They would form the framework for the books that he wrote later in his retirement. When Gottlieb was 17, his parents moved to the northeast part of Switzerland, where the farmland was flat. No more steep hills! It was a good country but the oldest children, especially Gottlieb and his closest brother Hansueli would forever miss the Emmental. What the Thurgau did have was fruit orchards, which became a passion of Dad’s. The Lehmann family attended a church nearby, as was their custom, and it was here that Dad met the lovely Helen Kreis. They attended youth group. Dad played the french horn in a brass band and sang bass in the choir while Mom sang soprano or alto. Dad was convinced that this was the woman for him. If you have read any of his romantic novels, you will know what happened next. Their parents thought they were too young at twenty years of age, to get married. Gottlieb continued with Agriculture college, and military school. But he pined after Helen and wrote her long letters. Finally, the day came when he was allowed to marry her. They settled into his parents' large farmhouse in which they occupied a small suit, sharing the kitchen first with his parents, then later with his brother Hansueli and his wife Erna, a sister of Helen’s. Four girls, Marianne, Barbara, Maya and Rosette were born in that house. Hansueli and Erna also began to have children. If the house wasn't too crowded, the farm was. Fritz gently told the sons that one of them had to go. So Dad went, pursuing his dream of a lot of land and lots of cows. The family left in the Spring of 1963, brashly and boldly going off across the ocean, so quickly, that they almost left their littlest child Rose in her little bassinet and she was handed to them through the train window at the last minute. They sailed by ship to Canada, and across the huge land by plane to Vancouver where Dad worked for a dairy farmer for a few months. It seemed a great place to start, but land prices there were high and Dad's funds were limited. His brother Hansueli had worked for a year in the Peace River area for Swiss farmers, so Dad checked out the land there and bought the farm we are on today. He liked it even though it didn’t look like a farm then. Anyway, he pulled up stakes again late that fall and moved his family to Cecil Lake. Dad was a very hard worker and built his farm by his own two hands, as he was known to say. It wasn’t only his hands, but that of the whole family. Two more girls, Helen and Margrit and lastly a son, Fred joined the family. Land was cleared, millions of roots and rocks picked, cows milked and calves fed, and thousands upon thousands of hay bales made. A huge garden and wild berries kept everyone busy. Slowly the farm and the fortunes of the family grew with the hard work and sacrifice of everyone. Not always voluntarily either. Hard raspberry candies worked as incentives for his young girls. We grew up next door to the community church and our parents soon were immersed in church activities including concerts and youth groups, music festivals in town and supporting missionaries and Christian organizations around the world. School was next door for the first few years until they built Clearview in 1969. School and 4-H soon took up more of the kids' time and it wasn't always a welcome distraction as far as Dad was concerned, especially if it was haying weather. Mom was the one involved in local activities. Dad mostly followed along if he had time, but his focus was building up a dairy farm. It wasn't until 1974 that he was able to acquire milk quota; he was only able to sell cream at the local dairy up to that point. Things improved a lot after that financially, and he was able to build a bigger home for his family in 1979/1980. He was realizing his dream. All the years of pinching pennies and putting everything into barns and cows and field work had paid off. Dad loved the farm work and especially his cows. He was grateful for every farmhand who was good at mechaniking. The years went on and Dad's girls grew up, moved out and got married. His employees were mostly young Swiss men in earlier years and they had a habit of marrying his daughters. Fred too grew up and found a girl from Switzerland who had come over on a rotary club exchange. Dad's dream of farming with his son was also coming true. Madeleine and Fred moved into the far side of the house and began their own family. Dad and Mom continued to farm with Fred for a number of years. Dad played his french horn with the choir at the church across the road and his strong bass voice continued to be part of many choirs and church singing. Our cousin Kathy had come over and married former employee Hans Jutzeler. Her sister Ruth came too and met Bernard Wolf on the dairy farm. It was special to Dad to have Ruth’s and Kathy’s parents, his brother Hansueli and Mom’s sister Erna, moved to Cecil Lake when they were in their late fifties. Dad enjoyed having someone to smoke a cigar with now and then. He would tell us how many older fellows in Switzerland liked to sit outside their houses after work and smoke a pipe on a wooden bench outside and enjoy their break. Holidays were a rare thing in the early years due to lack of time and finances, Mostly, our parents saved to go home to Switzerland a time or two to see family. It was one of the hardest things about moving away-rarely seeing their families and letters and expensive phone calls just didn't always make up for it. Once they were older and Fred was holding down the fort, Mom and Dad travelled throughout Canada and the US, making sure they visited their daughter Margrit in Los Angeles. They were able to travel back to Switzerland where daughter Marianne lived with her husband Robert and family. When they moved to Canada in l992 our parents just added Westlock to their list of places to visit. When Mom had a stroke, Dad moved into Andres' house as we called it, a place he had purchased years before. The place was renovated for wheelchair access and with caregiver Scheverlyn, Mom came home and they were able to live there comfortably. Dad had a garden and greenhouse as long as he was able. They had flowers on the deck and we loved to go over and have family events there. Pastor Dennis led a senior’s Bible study there until last Fall when Corona rules disallowed it. When Mom passed away in 2017 Dad lived alone for a while, independent as ever. After a fall in February 2019 it was clear he couldn't be alone anymore. We found wonderful caregivers Arlyn and Melody, and others helped on their days off. Melody stayed on and was absolutely wonderful with Dad. He was able to stay at home with her until he became too sick and had to go to the hospital. He spent eight weeks in the hospital with limited visitors. Not ideal for a big family. Dad rallied and began to hope he could go home again, but it was not to be. Dad was able to see all his children who lived here, the other two by videos, and various grandchildren before he passed away peacefully in his sleep on April 28, 2021. Dad follows our Mom Helen Lehmann, his brother Hansueli Lehmann, granddaughter Anne Jewel and great-grandson Corbin to heaven. Left behind are his children Marianne (Robert) Stamm, Barbara Lehmann, Maya (Franz) Wenger, Rosette (Peter) Zingre, Helen (Dave) Harris, Margrit Lehmann, Fred (Madeleine) Lehmann and their families – 16 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren whom he was always proud of; and two brothers, two sisters and their families. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in memory of Gottlieb to the Peace River Bible Institute or the the Cecil Lake Christian Fellowship Church. Services