Michael Edmund Siemens

On the evening of the 4th of March, in the love and presence of his wife Rosemary, mother Joy, and sister Liz, Michael peacefully passed on. Michael was predeceased by his father, Wally, and his sister Susan in 1995 (interestingly March 4th was Susan's birthday). He leaves behind his wife Rosemary, mother Joy, and siblings Jill, Daniel, Paul and Liz.

Born in Vancouver, Michael was the third child and the first son of Waldemar and Joyce Siemens' six children. From a young age, Michael was undaunted by challenges. As a child, he was diagnosed with a hole in his heart but believed his creator was healing him; following testing showed that the hole was no longer there.

Michael grew up on Capitol Hill in Burnaby, in a big, crazy rambunctious family. One memorable summer, his parents loaded all six kids in the car and drove across the continent to Expo 67. Family life was always active and Michael was often at the centre of it.

In his youth Michael loved acting and was very involved with the theatre program at Burnaby South Secondary School where he was elected as school president. He attended Ryerson Polytechnical College in Toronto where he met several lifelong friends.

Michael's adventuresome spirit took him to India at age 18 via Europe. He and some friends shuttled luxury cars from Germany through the continent, then Turkey and Iran to Afghanistan and over the Khyber Pass to Pakistan and India. When he returned, Michael brought back a big load of Indian shirts to sell in Canada along with a lifelong hatred of bananas. Later, his fearless entrepreneurship also led him to import, refurbish, and sell antique brass and copper telephones from Belgium.

Meeting and marrying the love of his life Rosemary meant he had a new traveling companion. His wanderlust took him to Colombia from where he exported emeralds and leather goods back to Canada. For several years they split their time between their North Vancouver home and the British Virgin Islands where he and Rosemary owned a restaurant in Road Town, Tortola. They built a villa, "Fandango House", which Michael contracted with local help and his blood, sweat, and tears. It's still atop Spyglass Hill with a commanding western view Little Apple Bay beach and the island of Jost Van Dyke. They rented it out and took an epic journey to Europe for six months with a VW van they bought in Holland. If you want to rent Fandango House now you'll need deep pockets!

After selling the property in the BVI, Michael and Rosemary moved to the Victoria area and opened two specialty cruise travel agencies in Victoria and Sidney. They would continue in the cruise travel industry for the next 30 years. From Victoria, they moved to San Francisco for a couple of years, then Michael and Rosemary moved back to their west coast roots in Metro Vancouver merging homes with Michael's mother Joyce and brother Daniel and his family on a remarkable property they called "The Village".

Michael worked very hard a few years in a labour of love to help his sister Jill successfully establish "The Canadian Tenors" on the music scene and continued to service his cruise clientele from his home in Langley for the rest of his career until his health forced him to stop. He faced his medical challenges bravely and with good humour and was well-known and liked in his community at Kinsmen Lodge in Surrey, where he lived for the past two years.

Michael loved friends and family, he enjoyed cooking (fabulous!!) and entertaining (very!!!), and he loved memorizing and singing funny songs. He was passionate about travel, was gregarious and outgoing, but also relished quiet times with Rosemary and the dogs that were part of their family: Raffles, Dash, Pilot, and Auggie.

His last journey out of the lower mainland was to Danny and Merilee's home in Powell River where the three brothers created lasting memories together.

Michael was always looking for and usually finding the humour in situations. Oftentimes, the rest of the family didn't know quite why Michael and Paul were in stitches because they shared the same warped sense of humour. As the end of his life approached, when asked how he was feeling, Michael said simply with good nature, "mustn't grumble".