April 30, 1927- December 25, 2013

In the early evening of Christmas Day, 2013, while hanging out with family, the loving heart of Franziska Helmer stopped beating. She lived fully independent and contributed to her family and her community, right to the end!

Mom was born on April 30, 1927 in Winkl, Bavaria, Germany, as the seventh of ten children. She worked hard on the family farm and experienced the horrors of the second world war. She went on to work in a catholic seniors’ home in Augsburg, Bavaria. In Augsburg she met her future husband, Maximilian Helmer, who she married on March 7, 1955. Joining him in Radium Hot Springs, they built their family and their business.

Our mother was a devout and faithful Roman Catholic disciple: she loved the Lord and his church.

She was a frugal and pragmatic woman who feared no task and left no moment unproductive…napping was never an option, but laughing was always encouraged.

Franziska was predeceased by her husband Maximilian in 2005 and is survived by her four children, Joe, Max, Tony and Louise; her three daughter-in-laws, Seona, Sue and Donna; her fifteen grandchildren, Stefan (Jenny), Maximilian (September), Nicholas, Krysta, Simon, Charles, Alexander, Samantha, Greig, Amanda, Mary, Henry, Lily, Michael and Matthew; her two great-grandchildren Hannah and Abigail; her brother Joseph and several cousins, neices and nephews in Germany and Australia.

Funeral services were held at the St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Radium Hot Springs on January 2, 2014, where she was read to by her five granddaughters. Internment followed at the Mountain View Cemetary, where she was carried to her final resting place by her ten grandsons.

Franziska was an amazing woman, mother and oma. We love her and will miss her. Our Dad was the rock of our family and Mom was the mortar.

May songs of angels welcome her and guide her along her way to the home of our Lord; and grant her there to stay!