Henry Juergensen

Henry Juergensen

Builder, traveller, seeker. Husband, Father, Opa, Born 4 May 1931 in Hamburg, Germany; died peacefully in his sleep on 28 July 2022 in Victoria, B.C.  Age 91 years.

Henry and his wife of 61 yrs, Elfriede (predeceased March 2021), emigrated to Canada from Hamburg in the aftermath of WWII where as children they had experienced the horrors of war. Like so many other immigrants of the time, Henry and Elfriede arrived at Pier 21 in Halifax and soon found themselves living on the edge of High Park in Toronto. Henry eventually found work as a pipefitter with a firm in Winnipeg where he took his young family in late 1959.  In Winnipeg, he was an active member of the German cultural community, attended the symphony, wandered the winter boat show, and in the summer, pursued his great love of sailing (and fishing!) at the cottage he built at Hillside Beach on the eastern shore of Lake Winnipeg.  His work took him into northern Manitoba, Alberta, B.C., and the NWT where he was involved in the prescient and rapid hydro dam construction of the 1970s.  Growing up on the banks of the Elbe River leading to the North Sea, he was always drawn to looking over the horizon.  To the west of Winnipeg and over the prairie horizon was the beautiful city of Victoria, which was the perfect blend of his past and present.  Logically, in 1979 another move was afoot, and the family relocated to Victoria where he supported Elfriede in establishing Colwood House of Nutrition, bought an RV and began to travel North America from east to west and north to south. He and Elfriede kept up this spirit of discovery until it physically became too demanding to do so.

Henry will be missed, but his spirit, strength, and determination to keep looking over the horizon lives on in all of his children (Birgit, Peter, Olaf, Suzanne predeceased 2013, and Christina) and grandchildren (Jaden, Astra, Isabel, Duncan, Tomas & Erica).

A family cremation celebration of life will take place in the autumn.