Rudi Pankratz

January 10, 1960 – December 11, 2017

Rudy Pankratz passed away peacefully on December 11, 2017 at home with his family by his side. Rudy was born on January 10, 1960 to Frida and Rudolf Pankratz in Komsomolez, Kasachstan as the sixth of eleven children. The family moved to Kirgistan when Rudy was 3 years old, where they resided the next 15 years. Here at the age of 14 Rudy dedicated his life to the Lord Jesus Christ.

When Rudy was 17 years old, the family immigrated to Germany. On June 25, 1978 Rudy was baptized and since that day he has been following Jesus and witnessing in word and deed. As a member of a Free Evangelical Christian Church he was active in a church choir, orchestra, and other activities to spread and preach the Gospel.

On August 14, 1982 Rudy married the love of his life, Adina Schimann. The Lord blessed them with four children, Henry, Steffi, Susi, and Melanie. Rudy was a loving and caring dad and husband. Despite his busy life at the church and his professional life, he always would take time to be around his family whenever possible. His goal was to be a good example to his children and to pass on the message of the savior Jesus Christ to them.

On July 15, 1997 Rudy and his family immigrated to Chilliwack, Canada. It was a very hard start in to a new life. Having difficulties with the English language, not knowing the culture here, Rudy had to go out to find customers for his business in order to be able to provide for his family. He quickly made friends with many loving and kind people who made Rudy and his family feel home soon after. Rudy always appreciated the kindness and love of helping people.

After a few difficult years, Rudy was able to establish a successful business A-One Machinery Ltd. He was a hard working person and would do everything possible to keep his promises. But despite of his success, Rudy never took credit for anything and would never take anything for granted. He always thanked the lord for everything. It was never his intention to get rich. He has seen his business as an opportunity to help others. Rudy never hesitated to help and would go out of his way to do so.

As it became obvious that many other families from our Church in Germany would be moving to Chilliwack, Rudy started a house fellowship. As the group grew in size, he dedicated half of his business office space for the Church services at his own expense. That was the birth place of our Free Evangelical Christian Church in Chilliwack. After a few years, as our church group grew out of this space, Rudy started to look for a larger room. He found a room that we rented for our church services. He was always thinking ahead and caring for our church. 2010 Rudy started to serve as a Pastor at our Church.

In 2014 our church was able to acquire the building on 9391 College Street in Chilliwack which was completely renovated. We now have a wonderful sanctuary for our church and a number of Sunday school class rooms. Most of the work was done voluntarily by our church members and friends. Rudy was able to bring everyone at our church together to complete this project. He was a big part of this project. He was there every day hands on working and planning ahead to make sure the project would be completed in a timely manner. He was usually there the first, and the last to leave by the end of a day.

Rudy’s goal was to live a godly life and encourage everyone, especially young people, to serve the Lord. He was active in the ministry, preaching and helping right to the end. He was very strong and brave with his fight of cancer, knowing that he was going to the Lord. He will be greatly missed.

Rudy was survived by his wife Adina; his son Henry and his wife, Christine; his daughter Steffi and her husband, Niko; his daughter Susi and her husband, Dominik; his daughter Melanie and her husband, David; his grandchildren: Jenny, Eileen, Benjamin, Melody, Lucas, Lea, Sarah, Levi, Celina; his brothers Heinrich, Peter and Viktor and sisters Anna, Sara, Nelli, Lena und Lisa. He was predeceased by his parents Rudolf and Frida and his sisters Lisbeth and Hedwig.

Arrangements under the direction of Henderson's Funeral Homes & Crematorium Ltd., Chilliwack, British Columbia.