Obituary of Karl Schlenkrich

September 27, 1933 – Georgeswalde, Czechoslovakia

January 16, 2025 – Airdrie, Alberta

Karl Schlenkrich of Calgary, AB, passed away on Thursday, January 16, 2025, at the age of 91 years. He passed away peacefully of natural causes.

Karl was born in the town of Georgeswalde, Czechoslovakia, on September 27, 1933, which is now called Jiříkov. This region was called the Sudetenland (and in earlier times it was part of the kingdom of Bohemia) but is now Czechia. Karl’s father Franz Schlenkrich was from Hainsbach, Germany, and his mother Elisabet Schlenkrich (nee Moecke) from Georgeswalde.

Karl was one of six children. He was born and raised in a peaceful small town, but with World War II raging, Karl and his family experienced many challenges. Karl was particularly traumatized when nearby Dresden, Germany, was bombed by the Allies near the end of the war. For a few months, the area was heavily affected by bombing and war activity. Many people died in the war, but Karl survived and lived a long, interesting, and fruitful life!

After the war, his family was relocated to Germany, where they eventually settled in Bad Homburg. Karl trained to become a professional carpenter and worked in the trade his whole life, continuing past retirement age as he enjoyed working.

In 1955, Karl immigrated to Canada and has expressed many times he was happy to be a Canadian and loved his adopted country. After working in Ontario for several years (some of the time working in a gold mine in Timmins, ON), in 1960, he moved out West to Alberta and was joined by Timmins native Jeannie Tonoff, whom he married. They went on to have five children, Anne, Peter, Teresa ‘Threza’, Matthew, and Joan ‘Frejya’.

Karl was a devoted family man and loved children. He was a fun and playful dad, who was kind, patient, and generous to his children and everyone in his life. He had a great sense of humour and enjoyed making people laugh and feel at ease with him.

Karl was a faithful Catholic his whole life and believed in doing good works, supporting charities, and volunteering. Karl was one of the founding members of the Calgary Catholic Immigration Aid Society. As an immigrant who had received a lot of help himself, he wanted to give back and volunteered for many years assisting new immigrants. Karl was also part of the Knights of Columbus–a Catholic charitable organization. Karl believed in giving to charity and generously donated money and volunteered for many charities and individuals.

He enjoyed many creative hobbies, including painting, drawing, and film and digital photography. He wrote poetry, drew a comic strip, and produced and directed a short film. He wrote a fascinating biography of his life too. He was a music lover and loved listening to European music of many kinds. He also loved solving logic puzzles and many other types of word puzzles. In his retirement years, he was a member of Toastmasters.

Karl is survived by his two sons, Peter of Calgary, AB, and Matthew and his spouse Tracey of Victoria, BC; and his three daughters, Anne of Edmonton, AB, Teresa ‘Threza’ of Grande Prairie, AB, and Joan ‘Frejya’ of Calgary, AB.

Karl is also survived by two sisters, Margarete of Göttingen, Germany, and Gertrud of Calgary, AB; his two brothers, Franz of Bad Homburg, Germany, and Rudi of Germany; his sister-in-law, Jean of North York, ON, as well as many grandchildren, nephews, nieces, cousins, and friends.

Karl was predeceased by his parents; his former wife, Jeannie Tonoff; his two brothers, Hans of North York, ON, and Herbert, who passed away at nine months old; his brother-in-law Reinhardt Uhlendorff of Göttingen, Germany, who was the husband of Margarete; and his sister-in-law Brigitte of Bad Homburg, Germany, and the wife of Franz.

A Celebration of Karl’s Life will be held at a later date.

We ask that if you wish to honour Karl, in lieu of flowers, memorial tributes may be made directly to the Bethany Care Foundation, #100, 2915 – 26^th Avenue S.E., Calgary, AB T2B 2W6, https://bethanycarefoundation.com/, Telephone: (403) 210-4600, email: bcf@bethanycare.com. Bethany Airdrie took excellent care of Karl.

Condolences, memories, and photos may be shared and viewed with Karl’s family and friends here.

In living memory of Karl Schlenkrich, a tree will be planted in the Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area by McInnis & Holloway Funeral Homes, Chapel of the Bells, 2720 Centre Street North, Calgary, AB T2E 2V6, Telephone: 403-276-2296.