My wonderful loving and unique dad, who passed away peacefully around 3.30 am this morning, only to be with my mom, his parents, his beloved elder brother Karl Meinikat (whose Heavenly Birthday it is today) and his sister-in-law, Inge.
Dad was an incredible person, loving and loyal to his wife, almost obedient to anything my maternal grandmother wanted him to do, and a dad who spoiled me as much as he could. Just like his brother, he never uttered a bad word and was loved by so many, working buddies, friends, all the family, for his kind heart.
He left his home city after two years of marriage in which mom and himself met only once in four weeks, after mom had threatened to file for a divorce - and came to Gummersbach to live with mom and granny in July 1960 - in May 1961, I was born.
Of course, dad left a well-paid job in his city for a job as an unskilled worker in this small town, but he never complained about all that.
After his first stroke back in 1985, dad's health was still fairly ok to an extent where he could move around with a walking stick, and heat up his own food in the microwave, which was less dangerous than risking his putting something on the oven and perhaps falling. After mom's death, dad and I had become a real team, neither of us needed to say something, everything worked smoothly.
His health worsened about 10 years ago, gradually but steadily, and three years ago, he had a very serious surgery of the intenstine, followed by an amputation of his left leg. And a stroke in between these two events made him unable to swallow and eat properly, which means that he was then on a feeding sonde.
Despite all that, he would smile at you thankfully and let you know that he was fine. He never complained.
A few weeks ago, further problems began, and following that, dad had to be hospitalized again, was admitted home for just a day but had to be re-hospitalized the next day, just over a week ago.
Only yesterday did he have the surgery done to give him a new solid feeding sonde, to eliminate any danger, but sadly, he was already very weak, and developed another high fever overnight.
I am just glad that I had told him every single day how much I loved him and how very proud I was of him - actually, I repeated those words, this time under tears, when I saw him this morning, kissing him goodbye.
And while the pain is presently immense and it feels as if my heart was breaking into little bits, I shall ever be thankful that this tender soft man was my dad, nobody on this planet could have had a better dad, and I shall always treasure the precious memories of my Papa.
Dad was cremated and buried in a Friedwald, i.e. a natural burial forest preserve located in the Wildenburger Land region. Urns are interred at the roots of trees in plots called a "RuheBiotop" (peaceful biotope). A right to use can be bought for up to about 100 years, as opposed to the normal 20 years in standard cemeteries in Germany. The deceased have a final resting place in a quiet forest, and the grave is cared for by nature itself; on September 3, 2011, dad was buried underneath a beech tree, no. 79.
Street address: Krottorfer Straße, Friesenhagen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany
Postal code: 51598
GPS: 50.87497, 7.78039
Phone: 49-2742-93 19 50
The so-called Gauß-Krüger coordinates of the EXACT burial site, that one birch tree, are as follows:
Easting: 3414183.0
Northing:5641432.5
Dad's eternal rest is the Ruhe Biotop Block A No. 79, Place 3.
The words I chose for the 'obituary' in the newspaper were a no-frills type of words, to match dad's loving and uncomplicated personality and the truth:
Als die Kraft zu Ende ging,
war's kein Sterben,
war's Erlösung.
=
When the energy was exhausted,
it wasn't dying,
it was salvation.
*****
Dad was an incredible person, loving and loyal to his wife, almost obedient to anything my maternal grandmother wanted him to do, and a dad who spoiled me as much as he could. Just like his brother, he never uttered a bad word and was loved by so many, working buddies, friends, all the family, for his kind heart.
He left his home city after two years of marriage in which mom and himself met only once in four weeks, after mom had threatened to file for a divorce - and came to Gummersbach to live with mom and granny in July 1960 - in May 1961, I was born.
Of course, dad left a well-paid job in his city for a job as an unskilled worker in this small town, but he never complained about all that.
After his first stroke back in 1985, dad's health was still fairly ok to an extent where he could move around with a walking stick, and heat up his own food in the microwave, which was less dangerous than risking his putting something on the oven and perhaps falling. After mom's death, dad and I had become a real team, neither of us needed to say something, everything worked smoothly.
His health worsened about 10 years ago, gradually but steadily, and three years ago, he had a very serious surgery of the intenstine, followed by an amputation of his left leg. And a stroke in between these two events made him unable to swallow and eat properly, which means that he was then on a feeding sonde.
Despite all that, he would smile at you thankfully and let you know that he was fine. He never complained.
A few weeks ago, further problems began, and following that, dad had to be hospitalized again, was admitted home for just a day but had to be re-hospitalized the next day, just over a week ago.
Only yesterday did he have the surgery done to give him a new solid feeding sonde, to eliminate any danger, but sadly, he was already very weak, and developed another high fever overnight.
I am just glad that I had told him every single day how much I loved him and how very proud I was of him - actually, I repeated those words, this time under tears, when I saw him this morning, kissing him goodbye.
And while the pain is presently immense and it feels as if my heart was breaking into little bits, I shall ever be thankful that this tender soft man was my dad, nobody on this planet could have had a better dad, and I shall always treasure the precious memories of my Papa.
Dad was cremated and buried in a Friedwald, i.e. a natural burial forest preserve located in the Wildenburger Land region. Urns are interred at the roots of trees in plots called a "RuheBiotop" (peaceful biotope). A right to use can be bought for up to about 100 years, as opposed to the normal 20 years in standard cemeteries in Germany. The deceased have a final resting place in a quiet forest, and the grave is cared for by nature itself; on September 3, 2011, dad was buried underneath a beech tree, no. 79.
Street address: Krottorfer Straße, Friesenhagen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany
Postal code: 51598
GPS: 50.87497, 7.78039
Phone: 49-2742-93 19 50
The so-called Gauß-Krüger coordinates of the EXACT burial site, that one birch tree, are as follows:
Easting: 3414183.0
Northing:5641432.5
Dad's eternal rest is the Ruhe Biotop Block A No. 79, Place 3.
The words I chose for the 'obituary' in the newspaper were a no-frills type of words, to match dad's loving and uncomplicated personality and the truth:
Als die Kraft zu Ende ging,
war's kein Sterben,
war's Erlösung.
=
When the energy was exhausted,
it wasn't dying,
it was salvation.
*****
My wonderful loving and unique dad, who passed away peacefully around 3.30 am this morning, only to be with my mom, his parents, his beloved elder brother Karl Meinikat (whose Heavenly Birthday it is today) and his sister-in-law, Inge.
Dad was an incredible person, loving and loyal to his wife, almost obedient to anything my maternal grandmother wanted him to do, and a dad who spoiled me as much as he could. Just like his brother, he never uttered a bad word and was loved by so many, working buddies, friends, all the family, for his kind heart.
He left his home city after two years of marriage in which mom and himself met only once in four weeks, after mom had threatened to file for a divorce - and came to Gummersbach to live with mom and granny in July 1960 - in May 1961, I was born.
Of course, dad left a well-paid job in his city for a job as an unskilled worker in this small town, but he never complained about all that.
After his first stroke back in 1985, dad's health was still fairly ok to an extent where he could move around with a walking stick, and heat up his own food in the microwave, which was less dangerous than risking his putting something on the oven and perhaps falling. After mom's death, dad and I had become a real team, neither of us needed to say something, everything worked smoothly.
His health worsened about 10 years ago, gradually but steadily, and three years ago, he had a very serious surgery of the intenstine, followed by an amputation of his left leg. And a stroke in between these two events made him unable to swallow and eat properly, which means that he was then on a feeding sonde.
Despite all that, he would smile at you thankfully and let you know that he was fine. He never complained.
A few weeks ago, further problems began, and following that, dad had to be hospitalized again, was admitted home for just a day but had to be re-hospitalized the next day, just over a week ago.
Only yesterday did he have the surgery done to give him a new solid feeding sonde, to eliminate any danger, but sadly, he was already very weak, and developed another high fever overnight.
I am just glad that I had told him every single day how much I loved him and how very proud I was of him - actually, I repeated those words, this time under tears, when I saw him this morning, kissing him goodbye.
And while the pain is presently immense and it feels as if my heart was breaking into little bits, I shall ever be thankful that this tender soft man was my dad, nobody on this planet could have had a better dad, and I shall always treasure the precious memories of my Papa.
Dad was cremated and buried in a Friedwald, i.e. a natural burial forest preserve located in the Wildenburger Land region. Urns are interred at the roots of trees in plots called a "RuheBiotop" (peaceful biotope). A right to use can be bought for up to about 100 years, as opposed to the normal 20 years in standard cemeteries in Germany. The deceased have a final resting place in a quiet forest, and the grave is cared for by nature itself; on September 3, 2011, dad was buried underneath a beech tree, no. 79.
Street address: Krottorfer Straße, Friesenhagen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany
Postal code: 51598
GPS: 50.87497, 7.78039
Phone: 49-2742-93 19 50
The so-called Gauß-Krüger coordinates of the EXACT burial site, that one birch tree, are as follows:
Easting: 3414183.0
Northing:5641432.5
Dad's eternal rest is the Ruhe Biotop Block A No. 79, Place 3.
The words I chose for the 'obituary' in the newspaper were a no-frills type of words, to match dad's loving and uncomplicated personality and the truth:
Als die Kraft zu Ende ging,
war's kein Sterben,
war's Erlösung.
=
When the energy was exhausted,
it wasn't dying,
it was salvation.
*****
Dad was an incredible person, loving and loyal to his wife, almost obedient to anything my maternal grandmother wanted him to do, and a dad who spoiled me as much as he could. Just like his brother, he never uttered a bad word and was loved by so many, working buddies, friends, all the family, for his kind heart.
He left his home city after two years of marriage in which mom and himself met only once in four weeks, after mom had threatened to file for a divorce - and came to Gummersbach to live with mom and granny in July 1960 - in May 1961, I was born.
Of course, dad left a well-paid job in his city for a job as an unskilled worker in this small town, but he never complained about all that.
After his first stroke back in 1985, dad's health was still fairly ok to an extent where he could move around with a walking stick, and heat up his own food in the microwave, which was less dangerous than risking his putting something on the oven and perhaps falling. After mom's death, dad and I had become a real team, neither of us needed to say something, everything worked smoothly.
His health worsened about 10 years ago, gradually but steadily, and three years ago, he had a very serious surgery of the intenstine, followed by an amputation of his left leg. And a stroke in between these two events made him unable to swallow and eat properly, which means that he was then on a feeding sonde.
Despite all that, he would smile at you thankfully and let you know that he was fine. He never complained.
A few weeks ago, further problems began, and following that, dad had to be hospitalized again, was admitted home for just a day but had to be re-hospitalized the next day, just over a week ago.
Only yesterday did he have the surgery done to give him a new solid feeding sonde, to eliminate any danger, but sadly, he was already very weak, and developed another high fever overnight.
I am just glad that I had told him every single day how much I loved him and how very proud I was of him - actually, I repeated those words, this time under tears, when I saw him this morning, kissing him goodbye.
And while the pain is presently immense and it feels as if my heart was breaking into little bits, I shall ever be thankful that this tender soft man was my dad, nobody on this planet could have had a better dad, and I shall always treasure the precious memories of my Papa.
Dad was cremated and buried in a Friedwald, i.e. a natural burial forest preserve located in the Wildenburger Land region. Urns are interred at the roots of trees in plots called a "RuheBiotop" (peaceful biotope). A right to use can be bought for up to about 100 years, as opposed to the normal 20 years in standard cemeteries in Germany. The deceased have a final resting place in a quiet forest, and the grave is cared for by nature itself; on September 3, 2011, dad was buried underneath a beech tree, no. 79.
Street address: Krottorfer Straße, Friesenhagen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany
Postal code: 51598
GPS: 50.87497, 7.78039
Phone: 49-2742-93 19 50
The so-called Gauß-Krüger coordinates of the EXACT burial site, that one birch tree, are as follows:
Easting: 3414183.0
Northing:5641432.5
Dad's eternal rest is the Ruhe Biotop Block A No. 79, Place 3.
The words I chose for the 'obituary' in the newspaper were a no-frills type of words, to match dad's loving and uncomplicated personality and the truth:
Als die Kraft zu Ende ging,
war's kein Sterben,
war's Erlösung.
=
When the energy was exhausted,
it wasn't dying,
it was salvation.
*****
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