Johanna Reinhart

Other Events:

• Name: Hannah Reinhart
• Name: Johanna Harnack
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-204929
• Residence: 1911, Breslau, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Roman Catholic

Johanna married Joseph George Henry Harnack 3 May 1904, Maryhill (New Germany) Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario. Joseph (son of Christian Harnack and Eva Kershnovski) was born 3 Oct 1881, Breslau, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 1968; was buried , Saint Boniface Roman Catholic Cemetery, Maryhill, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Name: Kate Harnack
• Name: Katherine Keller
• Name: Katherine Wilhelm
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-204930
• Residence: 1911, Breslau, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Roman Catholic
• Occupation: 1926, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Housemaid

Notes:

WILHELM, Katherine (Katy) nee Harnack - A resident of The Village of Winston Park, in Kitchener, passed away, peacefully there, on Wednesday, April 9, 2003, in her 98th year. Predeceased by her beloved husband George Wilhelm in 1971. She will be sadly missed by her loving children, Rodger Keller and his wife Verla of Rockwood and Lorne Wilhelm and his wife Lillian of Kitchener. Lovingly remembered by many grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. Dear sister of Irene Bitschy and Vera Schnurr, both of Kitchener. Predeceased by her daughter, Mary Zeller on February 9, 2003; her son- in-law, Ron Zeller, in 1998; her first husband, Leander Keller, in 1930; her parents, Joseph Harnack and the former Johannah Reinhart; three brothers, Stanley, Edgar, and Wilfred Harnack and three sisters, Doretta Bauman, Eleanor Harnack and Gladys Bitschy. Visitation will be held at the Ratz-Bechtel Funeral Home and Cremation Centre, 621 King St. W., Kitchener, 745-9495, on Thursday (today) from 2- 4 and 7-9 p. m. Funeral service will be held in the Ratz-Bechtel Chapel on Friday, April 11, 2003, at 2:30 p.m., with Father Edward Sheridan officiating. Private interment in Woodland Cemetery. Reception will follow the service in the Ratz-Bechtel Family Centre. As expressions of sympathy, memorial donations may be made to St. Mary's Hospital Foundation and may be placed by contacting the funeral home.

Kitchener-Waterloo Record Apr. 10, 2003

Katherine married Leander Charles Keller 24 Aug 1926, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. Leander (son of Joseph Keller and Catherine Lehman) was born 3 Feb 1901, Mildmay, Carrick Twp., Bruce Co., Ontario, Canada; died 3 Mar 1930, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; was buried , Mount Hope Cemetery, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Katherine — George Louis Wilhelm. George (son of Anthony Wilhelm and Magdalena Wendling) was born 28 Dec 1897, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 7 Jul 1971, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; was buried , Woodland Cem., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Name: Doretta M. Bauman
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-204931
• Residence: 1911, Breslau, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Roman Catholic

Notes:

BAUMAN, Mrs. Norman (Doretta) Of Route 2, Breslau, on Saturday, March 26, suddenly as the result of a heart attack at St. Mary's Hospital, 68 years of age.

A member of St. Boniface RC Church, Maryhill, the former Doretta Harnack, wife of Norman Bauman; mother of Adelle ( Mrs. Joseph Fay) and Douglas, both of Breslau. Donna (Mrs. Raymond Palubiski), Harold and Paul, all of Kitchener, Alvin and Herbert, both at home and John of Elmira; sister of Gladys ( Mrs. Edward Bitschy) of Maryhill, Irene (Mrs. William Bitschy), Mrs. Vera Schnurr, Mrs. Katherine Wilhelm, all of Kitchener, and Wilfred of Bluevale. Also surviving are 14 grandchildren, Predeceased by two brother one sister and two grand-children.

Visitation was at the Schreiter-Sandrock Funeral Home, Kitchener Sunday. The parish rosary was recited on Monday. Prayers were said at the funeral home on Tuesday, followed by funeral mass at St. Boniface RC Church, Maryhill, at 10 a. m. Rev. J. Lawless officiated. Interment St. Boniface Cemetery.

Elmira Signet 30 Mar 1977 Pg 20

Doretta — Norman A. Bauman. Norman (son of Anthony Bauman and Regina Haus) was born Aug 1905, Woolwich Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 1996; was buried , Saint Boniface Roman Catholic Cemetery, Maryhill, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Military: WW2
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-204933
• Residence: 1911, Breslau, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Roman Catholic

Notes:

HARNACK, STANLEY ELMER

Suddenly, in London, on Monday afternoon, January 17, 1977, of R. R. #2, Hespeler, in his 67^th year. Husband of Sophie R. Sowa. Father of Murray and Leonard, both of R. R. #2, Hespeler; Norman of London; Ronnie and David, both at home; Cecilia (Mrs. Ronald Broderick) of Musselmans Lake; Marianne of London; Janice (Mrs. Michael Fraser) of Arthur; Carol of Guelph; Mary Jane of Cambridge; and Helen, at home. Brother of Wilfred of Brussels; Mrs. Katherine Wilhelm of Kitchener; Mrs. Doretta Beauman; Irene (Mrs. William Bitschy) of Kitchener; Mrs. Vera Schnurr of Kitchener; and Gladys (Mrs. Edward Bitschy) of Maryhill. Also survived by eleven grandchildren. Predeceased by a son, Joseph in 1957 and a brother, Edgar in 1976. Born in Kitchener, he was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Harnack. Mr. Harnack was a farmer. He was a veteran of the Second World War. He was a member of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church. Nelson Funeral Home, 1766 Franklin Blvd. in Hespeler. Thence, to St. Mary's Church for funeral mass at 11 on Thursday. Interment New Hope Cemetery.

A Celebration of Lives Obituaries of Puslinch Township, Wellington Co., Ontario Vol 1, Anna Jackson & Marjorie Clark
Used with kind permission of Marjorie Clark

Stanley — Sophia Rita Sowa. Sophia (daughter of John Sowa and Caroline Shoemaker) was born 25 Nov 1918, Preston (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 25 May 2007, Guelph City, Wellington Co., Ontario, Canada; was buried , New Hope Cemetery, Hespeler (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-17514

Edgar — Mary Mabel "Mabel" Bitschy. Mary (daughter of Walter Edmond Bitschy and Clara Jantz) was born 5 Mar 1919, , Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 25 Oct 2012, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; was buried , Saint Boniface Roman Catholic Cemetery, Maryhill, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Name: Irene Bitschy
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-213987
• Epidemic: 2020; Covid-19

Notes:

'We don't want her to die feeling that she's alone'

105 years old and diagnosed with COVID-19, woman is isolated from the people she loves

She was born on a farm as the First World War was beginning.

She had eight brothers and sisters. As a teenager during Prohibition, she worked in her aunt's hotel in downtown Kitchener, and helped hide bottles of illegal booze in the laundry basket when the police came by.

She married, raised a family and then worked at the University of Waterloo. In retirement, she loved meeting new people, travelling all over North America, and playing with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Now, at the end of a long life filled with warm relationships, Irene Bitschy has been diagnosed with COVID-19.

Last week, she was moved from a nursing home in Kitchener to Cambridge Memorial Hospital.

For the first time in her 105 years, she is isolated from the people she loves.

"We don't want her to die feeling that she's alone," said her granddaughter, Heidi Sproul.

Bitschy (pronounced Beechy) had lived nine years at the Forest Heights Revera long-term care home. Her family visited several times a week.

At a time when seniors' homes are the battleground for the disease, Forest Heights is by far the worst hit in Waterloo Region.

There have been 34 deaths from coronavirus there. That's more than half of all the 66 deaths across this community.....


by Luisa D'Amato
Luisa D'Amato is a columnist with the Waterloo Region Record.

D'Amato, L. (2020). Opinion | 'We don't want her to die feeling that she's alone'. Retrieved 29 April 2020, from https://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/9964511--we-don-t-want-her-to-die-feeling-that-she-s-alone-/

___________________

Lifetimes: Childhood memories lasted more than a century

By Valerie Hill Special to the Record

Growing up on a farm meant hard work but there were also magical moments, such as when the pond froze over and the kids on the Harnack family farm would don their skates and slip onto the smooth surface. The boys would light warming fires at the pond's edge and illuminate the surface by lantern so they could skate themselves into exhaustion.

For Irene Bitschy, these were special childhood memories of the 1910s, memories that would only become more colourful as she grew up.

Born Irene Harnack on Oct. 18, 1914, on a Shantz Station farm, she was the middle kid in a family of nine.

Irene was born months after the outbreak of the First World War and in her 10 decades, she would live through many world events including the Spanish Flu epidemic and Prohibition. Her life became really interesting and a little subversive during the latter.

At age 14, Irene took a job at her aunt's hotel in downtown Kitchener. Thanks to overzealous temperance workers, Prohibition was in full force by 1916, banning the serving of alcohol in public places. So it simply went underground, or in the case of the Kitchener hotel, it went up into a laundry basket.

Irene's main job at the hotel was to wash and iron linens in a second-floor room but she had another, equally important role. The hotel posted a guard at the street entrance and when he spotted police heading toward the hotel for a raid, a chain of events began: the men inside gathered up the liquor and knocked on the ceiling. A trap door would suddenly open, Irene would drop her laundry basket down the hole for the men to place the offending liquor in, then she'd haul it up, close the door and hide the bottles under sheets.

Irene admitted that this was the scariest time of her life, always living on the edge, always facing the possibility of arrest.

Life on the farm was also somewhat risky. Her father, Joseph Harnack, ran a still on the farm and he was lucky to have a pal on the police force who alerted him to planned raids which would have ruined his bootleg operation. Irene had remembered that times were desperate, her father had many mouths to feed and limited options.

There were happy times as well on the farm. Picnics and garden parties were frequent, and it was at one of these events at the Harnack home that Irene met William Bitschy, from Maryhill.

William was quite smitten by the pretty Irene, but she wasn't exactly feeling the same. Uncomfortable with his attentions, Irene left the party and hid in her room. William had to take a different tack. He danced with her grandmother and convinced her to intervene on his behalf. It must have worked because Irene agreed to go out with him and the two married in Kitchener in April 1935. Bill's priest in Maryhill had refused to marry the couple, given Irene was not a parishioner, so they married in Kitchener.

With the Depression in full swing, the newlywed's wedding brunch was surprisingly generous, serving a rare treat of hotdogs. The young couple honeymooned in Niagara Falls and would go on to have four daughters: Charlotte, Sheila, Marlene and Lynda.

In the early part of their marriage, the couple lived at a gas station. Irene served ice cream and pumped gas while Bill delivered coal. They later moved to Breslau where they lived for five years before purchasing a farm.

Irene was back to farm life, working alongside her husband. In 1953, Bill landed a job with CN Railway and four years later, the couple moved to Kitchener.

With four daughters to raise, Irene was a stay-at-home mom until she learned about a new residence opening at the University of Waterloo. They were looking for a "house mom" to help students, many who were on their own for the first time. Several were foreign students and these kids were often invited for dinner with Irene and Bill, easing their homesickness.

Irene retired in 1975 and in 1988, Bill died. Always stoic, Irene sold the family home and moved to an apartment. In 1990, at 76, Irene boarded her first airplane, for an Alaskan adventure.

Lynda Tranebo said her mother was kind and loving. "She would do anything for anybody." Irene was also an exceptional cook, particularly potato salad and popcorn balls that she made every Halloween for dozens of neighbourhood kids.

In May, Irene was diagnosed with COVID-19 and made local headlines when the nursing home moved her to hospital for more intensive care. Though she didn't exhibit symptoms, the illness did weaken her organs. Irene died May 22, 2020, at 105.

Lifetimes: Childhood memories lasted more than a century. (2020). Retrieved 14 July 2020, from https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2020/07/13/lifetimes-childhood-memories-lasted-more-than-a-century.html?fbclid=IwAR09KruEN6o1b2gw-FDdn-Vhuub3IthUxZQHU3sml5K5EwNkLJrvjHzUYzk

Irene married William Remigius "Bill" Bitschy 25 Apr 1935, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. William (son of Walter Edmond Bitschy and Clara Jantz) was born 16 Jan 1910, Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died 10 Aug 1988; was buried , Saint Boniface Roman Catholic Cemetery, Maryhill, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-12061

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-232513

Wilfrid — Barbara Marie Hummel. Barbara (daughter of John Hummel and Susanna Lang) was born 27 Sep 1919, Trout Creek, Parry Sound District, Ontario, Canada; died 16 Jul 1999, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; was buried , Saint Boniface Roman Catholic Cemetery, Maryhill, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Name: Vera Schnurr
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-213985

Vera — George J. Schnurr. George died 1975. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Name: Gladys Margaret Bitschy
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-330580
• Residence: 1980, 600 Greenfield Ave., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada

Gladys — Edward Anton Bitschy. Edward (son of Walter Edmond Bitschy and Clara Jantz) was born 24 Apr 1912, Maryhill (New Germany) Waterloo Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario; died 12 Jan 1980, Kitchener Daily Record Newspaper, Kitchener, , Ontario, Canada; was buried , Saint Boniface Roman Catholic Cemetery, Maryhill, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-283540

Notes:

Bauman, Alvin William (Abbie)

Abbie passed away peacefully on Thursday, June 29, 2006 at Trinity Village at the age of 73.

He is now at home with his Mom and Dad Norman and Doretta (nee Harnack) Bauman.

Dear brother of Adelle Fay and her husband Joseph, Harold and his friend Grace, Paul and his wife Marlene all of Kitchener, Douglas and his wife Barbara of Maryhill, Jack and his wife Louise of Floradale, Donna and Ray Palubiski and Herb and his wife Mary all of Kitchener.

Abbie is survived by 19 nieces and nephews and his great-nieces and nephews.

Predeceased by one niece and one nephew.

Abbie had a love for teddy bears and music, especially Johnny Cash.

Special thanks to Juliette Cote, Tony Mancini, Donna Chicoine, Dr. McMurchy and Home Care for their care and dedication while Abbie was on the farm.

Also to Dr. Casey and all the staff at Trinity Village for all their care.

As expressions of sympathy donations to Trinity Village would be appreciated by the family.

"Alvin Bauman". 2021. Memorials.Henrywalser.Com. https://memorials.henrywalser.com/book-of-memories/164189/bauman-alvin/obituary.php.

Adelle — Joseph Stephen "Joe" Fay. (son of Joseph Fay and Anna Sprenger) [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-134240

Notes:

HARNACK, JOSEPH

Infant son of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Harnack of R. R. #2, Hespeler, on Monday, September 2, 1957, at South Waterloo Memorial Hospital. Survived by three brothers and five sisters, Murray, Leonard, Norman, Cecilia, Mary Ann, Janice, Carol, Mary Jane; grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Harnack of Shantz Station and John Sowa of Kitchener. The funeral was held on Tuesday at 10 from the Maurice J. O'Brien Funeral Home in Preston. Rev. D. D. Simpson read the committal prayers at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Cemetery at Hespeler.

A Celebration of Lives Obituaries of Puslinch Township, Wellington Co., Ontario Vol 1, Anna Jackson & Marjorie Clark
Used with kind permission of Marjorie Clark

Other Events:

• Name: Shirley Marie Russo
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-18525

Shirley — Frank Russo. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-170547

James — Donna Marie Quinn. Donna died Yes, date unknown; was buried , Mount Hope Cemetery, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-232622

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-232761

Willard — Marguerite Alberta Restoule. Marguerite (daughter of Stephen Restoule and Elizabeth "Lizzie" Langevin) was born 1936, Gogama, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada; died 1996; was buried , Woodland Cem., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-267298

Other Events:

• Name: Larry Harnack
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-267299

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-267300

Phyllis — Robert Kroetsch. [Group Sheet]

Kathy — Barry Wyatt. [Group Sheet]

Denise married Gregory "Greg" Ouellette [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-365807