Gisela Louise Dorothea Stehlik

Gisela Louise Dorothea Stehlik was born on August 10, 1926 in Laukischken, Ostpreußen, Germany to Heinrich & Luise Wessler, who had a clothing and fabric store. She was the third in the family of 9 children. In 1935, the family moved to Schwesternhof, where Heinrich became a farmer. Gisela had to help out on the farm and help raise her younger siblings. As the Russian army was advancing in January of 1945, her mother and siblings fled to Pennigbüttel-Wiste in Niedersachsen, West Germany, near Bremen. Gisela, a courageous young woman at age 18, traveled during the last few days of the war all by herself to Saxony to rescue Hannelore and Joachim, and reunited them with the family. In 1947, Gisela accepted Jesus as her personal Lord and Savior and was baptized in Bremen by Pastor Fey. She attended a Baptist Church in Osterholz-Scharmbeck, where she worked as a church secretary and sang in the guitar choir. In 1951, the family immigrated to Vancouver, Canada, and was welcomed by Uncle Albert and Tante Emma Hass and family. Gisela became a member of Bethany Baptist Church and later Immanuel Baptist Church. She worked as a governess for a prominent Vancouver family. In 1956 Gisela married Paul Stehlik of Detroit, where she lived until his death in 1961. She then moved back to Vancouver, where she worked for British Pacific Insurance Company. Gisela had an unfortunate fall which forced her to leave British Pacific and after recovering, began work at Flora. Eventually she became church secretary at Immanuel Baptist Church. During that time she was also a teacher in the Christliche Deutschschule, entertained many of the family on Sundays, and took care of her aging parents. In 2001, Gisela retired after 18 years of secretarial duties at the church. She moved to South Surrey with Hannelore, where they still hosted family gatherings, and enjoyed cultivating her many flowers on the outside deck. Gisela lived at her home until the Fall of 2018, where her failing heart forced her to the hospital and eventually to Evergreen Baptist Home for just one day. Gisela always maintained her faith in Jesus and put her trust and her life in God's hands. Quietly, in the afternoon of December 29, 2018, the Lord took her home to be with Him.