Rita Margarete Blanke

She is a song we long to hear because we can no longer hold her near. But she drifts in the clouds and parts them with her sunshine to look over us all, and she must smile because we each hold something of her in us all now.

We are heart broken to lose our Mother, our Grandma, (Omi) our great Grandma, Aunty & our friend after 91 years of love and laughter, and finally after 68 years with her steadfast rock of a man, husband Ernest Christian Blanke.

Predeceased by:

Johann (father) Katerina (mother) Ken (Son in Law)

Survived by:

Ernest, (Husband) Chrisine (Daughter) Randy & Debbie (Son) Terry & Rob (Daughter)

Grand kids: Christopher & Mary, Ryan & Corene, Jason & Caitlyn, Adam, (Tamara) Brittni & Thomas, Kylie & Lane, Danae, (Thomas) Cameron & Jessica.

Great Grand children: Isaac, Kalem, Gavin, Eli, Josh, Jordan, Cayde, Preston, Logann, Emily, Chloe, Madison, Lukas, Abel, Leah, Liam, Adeline, Theadora, Owen, Samantha, and James (JJ)

Born to Johann & Katarina Haak of Germany.

Rita was born just outside Germany in a small refugee camp inside Russian territory in 1935 and the family resettled back in Germany not long after. Rita did have an older sister who sadly did not make it through to moms birth.

Her family remained in Germany until they made the decision to change their life and emigrated to Canada in 1951 Landing in Montreal to board a Train coming across the entire continent and arrive eventually in Mission BC. They moved to Clearbrook where her father and mother settled & at the age of 16 she assimilated into Canadian culture and language very quickly and took to Canadian life.

She met Ernie around the age of 22 and was no easy catch as Ernie had to work at showing her dad Johann that he was a man to trusted with his daughter. She and Dad Married in 1968 and started their own family journey.

She was an avid games magician taking to anything that brought family together around the dinner table. While she strived to help her kids, or grand kids win, Opi was usually trying to sabotage someone’s game and made the whole scene an absolute laugh. She was gifted in sewing and knitting making clothing for kids and grand kids. She and Dad were dedicated to keeping up a garden and fruit trees for better than 50 years.

Mom and Dad joined the Recreational Vehicle club and took many trips together enjoying the RV landscape. You could often see them taking in a hockey game or Soccer game or Baseball game at any park or rink in the lower mainland watching first their grand kids in sport, and then their great grandchildren.

Our days of late carry less light into our hearts because this hurts so bad.

She will be missed each and every day that goes by.

We loved you, we loved your spirit, and your love will shine through all of us as we go forward in our own lives. May we each carry and pay forward the same humility that you showed everyone in your life.

We love you mom.