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We are so sad to share that our dear father, Adolph (Eddy) Schonenborn passed away November 24, 2018 at age 85. After a lengthy decline from the effects of dementia, we are so grateful that the end came quickly, painlessly and peacefully and are grateful to the kind, compassionate care he received at the WCG Palliative unit.

What a void he leaves behind! Even in his final years, Dad was always a force to be reckoned with; if there ever was a song written for him, it was the classic, "(I did it) My Way." He lived an extraordinary life and was successful against substantial odds. Dad's youth was marked heavily by having to endure the horrors of WW2 Germany and he suffered the ravages and deprivation of its aftermath. With astonishingly little formal education, he mastered yoga and turned his basic training as a bartender into an art form (back in the glorious '6o's)

He became smitten with our remarkable mom, Gina, married her at 21 and within 4 years became a young father of 3 (Lysa, David and Joe). Mom and Dad were a dynamic team, emigrating with kids and extended family to Canada with dreams as big as the sky, supporting all with hard work and the tenacity so typical of their generation. They created and lovingly nurtured the Little Bavaria Restaurant, soon turning it into a Port Alberni hotspot and local treasure.

Dad was bereft when Mom died in 1978. But he got a second chance at love with his second wife, Margaret (our Maggie Mae). Amidst often very challenging circumstances, Maggie was fiercely determined to--and did--care for him diligently, keeping Dad in his beloved home, at his beloved Sproat Lake, until his illness finally closed in. We are so grateful to her for letting Dad have it 'his way' right until the end.

Dad could be tough and exacting with the adults in the room; he loved to engage in passionate arguments with his great friends Juergen Foehse and Alphonse Zundorf. But he was a pushover for his grandkids, (Nathan and Sarah) and for the menagerie of pets that Maggie treats like her children.

We will miss him terribly but we find great comfort imagining that Dad is blissfully reunited with all those dearly loved ones that have gone before him, that await us our turn one day, arms open wide.

A service will be held at Notre Dame Roman Catholic Parish on Friday, December 7, 2018 at 11:00 AM, followed by a burial at Greenwood Cemetery and memorial luncheon back at the church.



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