Walter "Opi" Hahn

Walter Hahn was born in Munich, Germany May 19, 1932 but according to the many stories that were told to us, he was born earlier than 1932. He tells the story of when he was born that he was a very big baby and that he was born on a night that a big heavy weight boxing match was on. He was told that he was the size of a 3 month old baby at birth. His grandmother gave him middle name "Maria" because she wanted a girl but instead got a grandson. He spent most of his youth being raised by his grandparents in Zwiezal, Germany. This was a small town next to the Czechoslovakian border. His mother was kind of a free spirit. His father was not much in his life. What he tells us about his father is that he was a spy during WW II but we really don't know for what side. One of his proudest memories was during WW II he had a chance to meet Adolf Hitler and he says he remembers giving him flowers. He tells of when he was in the city (Munich) during air raids he could hear the American planes coming in and hearing the bombs being dropped and exploding. Having to run for shelter in the basements of the apartment buildings they lived in. During the earlier years as a small boy he lived around the corner from who would later become his wife, Georgine Kolbeck. Mom's mother didn't like her playing with Dad and his gang of friends, she called them the mischievous boys. Who would have guessed that years later they would marry. During the end of the war, Dad befriended American soldiers and learned to speak English. He became part of a group of young men (American & German) that would get involved in the black market. He tells how they would unhook one train car and take the goods from that and sell it. After the war he worked at a large bookbindery company in Munich call Oldenburg. He ran the cutting department. This is where again he met his future wife. They were married on December 24th, 1953 in Munich. In the beginning of their marriage they lived on the family compound with his mother-ln-law and her extended family. He and his brother-in-laws built a house for all of them to live in. In 1956 his first daughter was born. He wanted to give his new family all the opportunities the United States could offer so he moved his wife and 6 month old daughter Ellen to Detroit, Michigan. At first he worked at a bindery in the Detroit area but then later got a job delivering bread for Koepplinger's bakery.He worked there until 1966 and on occasion he would sneak his daughter Ellen and his son Eric "Ricky" (Ricky was born in 1958) on his delivery truck. Dad taught us how to restack bread on the grocery shelves and how to carry several loaves of bread on our arms. By 1961 he added one more daughter Evelyn to the family. During the winter months Evey loved to play out in the snow and make snow angels. Dad would tell her that she must be careful playing in the snow like that because there are "snow snakes" out there and that they will crawl up her butt and she will freeze to death. That was called an "Evey" story, she would believe anything he told her. Dad was forever teaching us things. He would take Ricky during the winter ice fishing or he would take us to Kensington Park to feed the ducks with fresh bread that we got from the bakery. We were part of the Koepplinger family and Dad would take us back into the baking area and let us watch how the bread was made and how it came out of the ovens. We had the run of the place as long as he was with us. To this day the smell of fresh baked bread brings back pleasant memories. In 1966 he packed everything up and went back to Germany. He did this for two reasons, first Mom was home sick and his uncle offered his bindery to him if he came back to Germany. Dad got his Masters in Bookbindery and opened his own bindery in a small town called Poing in Germany. He had a house built there and was very much hands on during the building of our new home. By 1969 he and Mom wanted to go back to the U.S. and that is exactly what we did. For a short time he went back to work at Koepplingers but this time as a sales manager. During this time he also started up his new bindery in Southfield, Michigan called Hahn & Son, Inc. By 1978 he packed everyone up again and headed to Boca Raton, Florida with the business in tow. He changed the name of our company to Boca Bookbindery Inc. As of today, we have been in business for 45 years. During the later years of his life he would only come in once in a while, mostly to read his newspaper (which he loved reading even when he would say stop buying it!) and do the paper work for the business.He became a first time grandfather to Ryan in 1983. He was so proud being a grandfather. Ryan could not say Opa (which is grandfather in German) so Ryan started to call him Opi, this name stuck with Dad till the day he passed. We all would call him "Opi" even people that knew him. His daughter Evey had another son Marc in 1984 and a daughter Taylor in 1993. His daughter Ellen had a son in1986 who's name is Nichlos. He taught all 3 boys the bookbinding business. He was always teaching them things. He would take the boys once in a while with him on deliveries. This is where all three boys, at a very early age, learned how to drive our big delivery truck. When Taylor came along he told her to always remember that "She's a beautiful, sexy, and a hot mama". Dad was always telling stories; he had a boat load of them, from his days as a child to his years during the war or anytime during his life span. And jokes, he would tell them over and over again, it didn't matter how often you heard them but when he retold them it was like hearing them for the first time. He loved to build things. He has built a bar in every home he has owned, he's made furniture and countless other things. He loved hockey. He has always been a Red Wings fan. Back in the 1960's he would go to as many games as he could, many times he got to go into the stadium for free because he would deliver the hotdog and hamburger buns from Koepplingers to the concession stands. Once he took Ellen & Ricky there to meet the players, the highlight was meeting Gordie Howe. Together as a family and many times just with Mom he traveled all over the country and Europe.Before leaving Germany in 1969 he bought a 911 Porsche and toured throughout Europe with his three kids and Mom as his co-pilot. Thank god we were small; there was little room in that car. When we got state side again he sold the Porsche for $500.00 and bought a VW square back. Dad was a self taught accordion player. He would love to play his oompa pa pa music on it. Mom and he were excellent dancers. They would go to the German Club and dance the night away. Back in 1998 he got on the roof of his Windermere house to fix the screen above the pool when after fixing it he used the screen to push himself up, well that didn't go like he planned, instead he fell about 25 ft. down to the pool. He ended up in the hospital for six weeks with many fractures and breaks throughout his body. He was forever climbing up on things and then finding that he was stuck and couldn't get down. Once he was hanging lights, put two of our rolling tables together, placed a 12 ft ladder on it and climbed up to hang lights. Lets just say the tables rolled apart and he was hanging from the rafters. He told us that he had to swing like a monkey from one steel beam to the next, then drop some 15 ft to the table. That was our Dad!

As you can see he lived a very full life. He lost his spark for life when his son Ricky passed away Sept. 11, 2007 and it devastated him when his wife, our Mother passed away Aug. 9, 2011. He wanted so badly to be with them. Walt is survived by his daughters Ellen & Evey, 4 grandchildren, Ryan, Marc, Nichlos and Taylor, son-in-law Paul, sister Annamarie (93), close family friend Vivian, nieces and nephews both here in the U.S. and Germany, sister-in-law Annaliese and countless friends. He would be surprised at how many people he has left his mark on.

The Broken Chain

We little knew that morning that

God was going to call your name.

In life we loved you dearly

In death, we do the same.

It broke our hearts to lose you,

you did not go alone,

for part of us went with you,

the day God called you home.

You left us peaceful memories,

your love is still our guide,

and though we cannot see you,

you are always at our side.

Our family chain is broken

and nothing seems the same but

as God calls us home one by one,

the chain will link again.