Waterloo Region Generations
A record of the people of Waterloo Region, Ontario.
Hilbert Lewis Weichel

Hilbert Lewis Weichel[1, 2]

Male 1895 - 1979  (84 years)

Personal Information    |    Media    |    Notes    |    Sources    |    Event Map    |    All    |    PDF

  • Name Hilbert Lewis Weichel 
    Born 2 Mar 1895  Elmira, Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  [3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
    Gender Male 
    Residence 1911  Elmira, Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  [7
    Lutheran 
    Residence 1947  Elmira, Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  [10
    Elected Office 1954  , Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Warden for the County of Waterloo 
    Died 20 Nov 1979  Elmira Mennonite Cemetery, Elmira, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  [5, 6
    Hall of Fame - Waterloo Region Bef 2012  , Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  [11
    Military WW1  [9
    Name H. L. Weichel 
    Name Lefty Weichel 
    Name Theodore Otto Louis 
    Eby ID Number Waterloo-25958 
    Buried Elmira Union Cemetery, Elmira, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  [6
    Person ID I25958  Generations
    Last Modified 6 Apr 2024 

    Father John S. Weichel,   b. 10 May 1866, Elmira, Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 15 Jul 1947, Elmira, Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 81 years) 
    Mother Ida Elizabeth Ruppel,   b. 4 Dec 1870, Elmira, Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 16 Jun 1927, Elmira, Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 56 years) 
    Family ID F6767  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Gertrude E. Schedewitz,   b. 1900, Peel Twp., Wellington Co., Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1995  (Age 95 years) 
    Married 29 Jun 1921  Yatton, Peel Twp., Mapleton Township Wellington Co., Ontario Find all individuals with events at this location  [12
    Children 
     1. Weichel,   b. 28 Sep 1922, Elmira, Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 10 Jan 1923  (Age 0 years)
     2. June Weichel,   b. Abt 1925
    Last Modified 7 Apr 2024 
    Family ID F37424  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Photos
    Hilbert Lewis Weichel
    Hilbert Lewis Weichel
    from Waterloo Region Hall of Fame

  • Notes 
    • Elmira Merchant H. L. Weichel dies
      By Record Staff Writer
      Elmira - H. L. (Lefty) Weichel of 84 Arthur St. S., a hardware merchant and former politician for 21 years, died Tuesday at the Elmira Nursing Home. He was 83. He was owner and president of Weichel Hardware in Elmira since 1945 and was the third generation of his family to operate the store which was founded in 1879. Weichel served Elmira as mayor, reeve and councillor for 21 years and was warden of Waterloo County in 1954. In 1973 he received a plaque from the Lutheran Laymen's League for being the first membership secretary in Canada. It was through his leadership that the roll call membership of the league rose to more than 1,000 in one decade. He also originated the Lutheran Hour Broadcast on Canadian radio stations and arranged for the programs to be carried over 35 Canadian stations. Among his many business positions before joining the hardware firm were bookkeeper and stenographer of the Elmira Interior Woodwork Co., clerk in a Sudbury hardware store, flour salesman in Calgary, stove and furnace salesman for 10 years and shoe merchant in Elmira for 17 years. And he operated the Elmira Regent Theatre for a few years. He was also chairman for 25 years of the Happy Cousins Concert Company which gave 1,200 performances in Canada and the United States. In 1962 he was elected president of the Ontario Good Roads Association. He had been vice-president of the association for three years. He was also a director and president of the Ontario Motor League and a former director of the Elmira and Woolwich Agricultural Society. Weichel received his high school and business college education in Kitchener. Surviving are his wife, two daughters, two sons, one brother and one sister. The funeral will be conducted Friday in Elmira.

      Kitchener-Waterloo Record, Wed., Nov. 21, 1979


      ________________________________

      Lefty and Gertrude Weichel to mark 50th jubilee
      By Record Staff Writer

      Elmira - One of the area's colorful personalities, H. L. (Lefty) Weichel, and his wife, Gertrude, will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary Sunday with a reception for 75 close relatives from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Galaxy Inn here. The couple were married June 29, 1921, at the little farm house of the bride's parents, the late Mr. and Mrs. S. L. Schedewitz, in the Village of Yatton, four miles west of here. They left on a honeymoon in a Baby Grand Chevrolet roadster for London, Ont., Hamilton and Niagara Falls, but between Baden and New Hamburg they were caught in a thunder storm. By the time they got the top up on the car they were drenched. Then a tire went flat and they sought refuge in a farmer's shed to change it. "I told my bride, with such a poor start, things are bound to get better," Mr. Weichel said. The couple lived in Yatton for four years and then moved to Elmira where they have remained. Mr. Weichel began his business career as a salesman for Robin Hood Flour Mills of Calgary, and later spent 10 years in sales with Hall-Zrd Foundry Co. of Hespeler and Gilson Co. of Guelph. Mr. Weichel purchased a shoe store in Elmira's business section from Martin Shoemaker and operated it for 17 years. After the death of his uncle, Henry (Big Mike) Weichel, in 1943 he sold the shoe store and went into the hardware business with M. Weichel and Son Ltd. He is president and treasurer of the firm and at 75 the oldest active merchant in Elmira. The Weichels have been life-long members of St. Paul's Lutheran Church here. Mr. Weichel was a member of the board of finance for 15 years as well as serving as treasurer of the congregation. For 14 years he was a member of the board of governors of the Lutheran Laymen's League and treasurer of the Lutheran Hour radio program for which he collected donations and looked after 35 stations in Ontario and Eastern Canada. Mr. Weichel was a member of Elmira town council for 21 years, reeve for six years, mayor for 3 ½ years and warden of Waterloo County in 1954. In 1955-56 he was president of the Ontario Motor League's North Waterloo Automobile Club, and in 1963 was president of the Ontario Good Roads Association. He also served as president for two years of the Canadian Arthritis Society's Elmira zone. Since 1950 he has been Elmira justice of the peace. Currently he is a member of the board of governors of the Waterloo County Hall of Fame. Lefty Weichel's name became widely known when he was chairman of the Happy Cousins Concert Company which in 25 years entertained at 1,200 dinners, socials and garden parties across Ontario and centres in the United States. The company included Lefty's brothers, the late O. W. (Mike) Weichel, the Elmira postmaster who became Waterloo North MP; and the late Harry Weichel; as well as nephews and cousins Ross Weichel, Percy and Norman Ruppel, Murray Ruppel, Otto Klinck and others. Mrs. Weichel has been a convener [sic] of dressings for the Elmira branch of the North Waterloo Cancer Unit for 18 years and for the same period of time has been active with the Elmira-Woolwich Agricultural [should be Horticultural?] Society. An avid gardener, the many flower beds that surround the Weichel home at 84 Arthur St. are her work, as are many crafts in the home. The couple are in good health and spend every summer weekend at their cottage in Port Elgin. Their children are Mrs. Wayne (June) Pettie of Elmira; Mrs. G. J. (Gloria) Wegener of Lake Charles, La.; and Michael, 60 Gilmour Cres., Kitchener. The couple's first-born, Arthur, died in infancy. There are six grandchildren. Anniversary celebrations will continue in August when Mrs. Wegener and her family can join the other children for a family dinner here.

      Kitchener-Waterloo Record, Sat., June 26, 1971

  • Sources 
    1. [S2403] News - Unidentified Newspaper Obituary, Obituary of Sophia Stumpf - Schedewitz.

    2. [S2403] News - Unidentified Newspaper Obituary, Obituary of Simon L. Schedewitz.

    3. [S161] Census - ON, Waterloo, Elmira - 1901, Elmira pg 4.

    4. [S161] Census - ON, Waterloo, Elmira - 1901, Elmira (Village) B. Page 5.

    5. [S74] News - ON, Waterloo, Kitchener - Kitchener-Waterloo Record (1948-1994), Obituary of H. L. Weichel - Nov. 21, 1979.

    6. [S98] Cemetery - ON, Waterloo, Woolwich - Elmira Union CC#4578 Internet Link.
      Weichel/ Husband/ H. L. (Left)Y)/ 1896 - 1979/ Wife/ Gertrude E./ 1900 - 1994/ Blessed Are The Dead/ Which Die In The Lord/ Rev. Xiv:13.

    7. [S176] Census - ON, Waterloo, Elmira - 1911, Div. 49 Pg. 21.

    8. [S7] News - ON, Waterloo, Kitchener - Berliner Journal (1859-1917), 12 Mar 1896 & 19 Mar 1896.
      2 Mar 1896 The wife of J. S. Weichel, in Elmira, a son.

    9. [S157] Military - Canada - World War I - Attestation papers.
      WEICHEL, HILBERT LEWIS Regimental number(s): 3140710 Reference: RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 10201 - 32 Date of Birth: 02/03/1896

    10. [S77] News - ON, Waterloo, Elmira - Elmira Signet (1893-1982), Obituary of John S. Weichel - 17 jul 1947.

    11. [S220] Waterloo Region Hall of Fame Waterloo Region Hall of Fame.

    12. [S74] News - ON, Waterloo, Kitchener - Kitchener-Waterloo Record (1948-1994), Lefty and Gertrude Weicherl to mark 50th jubliee - June 26, 1971.

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBorn - 2 Mar 1895 - Elmira, Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsResidence - Lutheran - 1911 - Elmira, Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsMarried - 29 Jun 1921 - Yatton, Peel Twp., Mapleton Township Wellington Co., Ontario Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsResidence - 1947 - Elmira, Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsElected Office - Warden for the County of Waterloo - 1954 - , Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDied - 20 Nov 1979 - Elmira Mennonite Cemetery, Elmira, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsHall of Fame - Waterloo Region - Bef 2012 - , Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsBuried - - Elmira Union Cemetery, Elmira, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth