Legacy

This weekend my entire family (on my mom's side) got together to celebrate and honour my grandparents for 60 years of marriage.

Elisabeth and Gerhard Klassen aka Oma & Opa!


After being married for a mere 16 years I am in awe of 60 years together. Looks like Keith and I have only started our journey together.


I deeply admire my grandparents. They have been through so much in their lifetime yet have remained so faithful to God and to each other. They have shown the meaning of hard work, perserverance and gratitude in all circumstances.

This is the VERY abbreviated version: They both met each other on a boat that was taking people from Germany to South America. Opa had escaped getting enlisted from Hitler's Youth army to the regular army because he was too scrawny. His mom was a widow and didn't have much food to give her five children. Oma was a pastor's daughter and was known for being particular. The war ended shortly thereafter and they looked to Paraguay to start a new fresh life. They married shortly after arriving in Paraguay. They don't even have a wedding picture. They worked very hard there in harsh conditions. They were sponsored to come to Canada in 1956 and once again travelled to a new land to start a new life. They started from scratch and through hard, hard work made themselves a good life in Vancouver, then Richmond, a summer home in Oroville and now in Abbotsford. My Opa started Klassen Heating which is still a very successful business in the city. They have six healthy children who all are committed Christians, who in turn all have children and even their children have children!

We were blessed with an amazing venue to have our celebration evening. My Oma's nephew opened up his beautiful home on Eagle Mountain for all 50 of us! The meal was scrumptious, the surroundings grand and the company fun.

My grandparents love to get up and tell us stories of their lives...they are not shy people. My Oma gave the best line of the night when she was telling us how she met Opa (in her wonderful German accent):

'A strange boy put his arm around me and....it did not feel bad.'


My brother was the 'official' photographer of the night but I took a few of my own shots. Here are just a few so you can see what our evening was all about!

My contribution was to bake and carve up this massive ham! My electric knife is still having seizures.

A most lovely home.

The reflection of the grand windows makes for an interesting shot.

The basement was set up for the kids. Air hockey, ping pong and a big TV. It was nice to have a place for them to go while the adults visited over dessert. Beyond the glass doors is an indoor pool!

The youngest member of the crowd was baby Asher who is a mere three weeks old. He's a real cuddle monkey. He's with his mom Erin who is my cousin and her dad, my Uncle Ken.


And as per tradition there was a 'kids' table for the meal. Keith and I left Liam at home with a sitter which made for a most enjoyable evening.

A view looking from the hall into the kitchen.

They cleared their livingroom for us...plenty of room for all.

Andrew with some lovely ladies! My cousins Kim and Teresa and my aunt Margarete.

Keith was assigned the carver of the baron of beef. He did a great job...such a multi-talented man I have!

Aunt Louise with my second cousin Edith. Louise hosted us with her husband Gerhard. Edith is their daughter (my second cousin) and she helped with the serving and cleaning up. Her daughter in turn helped supervise the kids in the basement!

There was a scrumptious lemon layered cake for dessert.

A fabulous evening that would not have pulled off without all the hard work from each of the families. Amen!