Almuth Sophie Wruck

We are deeply saddened to announce that our mother passed away on December 31, 2020. Our mom, Almuth Sophie Wruck, nee Lücken, was born on Dec 9, 1931 in Vechta, Germany. Mom is predeceased by her husband Heinz Erich Wruck and her sister Waltraud Brandly. She is survived by her sisters Helga Wilson and Karin Harms and family, her children Karen Wruck, Barbara Dunbar, Lorraine Coupland (husband Ken) and Robert Wruck (wife Junko), grandchildren Adriana Coupland, Candace Jacques (husband Isaac), Christine Dunbar, Vincent Dunbar, Elle Wruck, Eduard Wruck and great grandchildren Lincoln and Octavia Jacques.

Our mother was born and raised in Germany and after meeting our father in her hometown after the Second World War ended, later made the journey to Canada to meet her future husband. Our dad went to Alberta ahead of our mother, who made the long journey by ship and train to start life in her new home country of Canada. After getting married, our parents purchased the International Store (the only store in town) in Kingman, Alberta. Mom ran the store while also bringing up her children as dad was out doing other jobs. After that we moved to Edmonton where mom cleaned floors at hospitals and other places at night, while also running a laundromat and caring for her young family during the day. Mom and dad eventually packed us up and moved to Victoria, B.C. where they had purchased the Crown & Anchor Motel. The next move after that was to Duncan, B.C. where our parents owned the Thunderbird Motel and then years later moved up to Nanaimo, B.C. to continue in the motel business. In Nanaimo, our parents owned various motels where mom once again would hold down the fort and take care of the day to day duties, while also taking care of her children. After leaving the motel business, mom took care of the bookkeeping duties for our parent’s roofing business and also continued to take care of her two youngest children who were still at home. She also managed to find time to volunteer at swim meets and various women’s groups, as well as taking the Power Squadron Course and later helping to teach others wanting to learn about boating.

The Power Squadron was an important part of our mom’s life and she utilised her vast nautical knowledge when enjoying time on our parent’s boat. She especially enjoyed time with her children and grandchildren on the water and also going on trips with other boating friends. Our mom, and dad were also instrumental in helping to create the German Cultural Center in Nanaimo. Once her kids had moved on to their own lives, she really looked forward to spending time and making lasting friendships with other Canadians and Americans as a ‘Snowbird’ in Yuma, Arizona and then in Indio, California. One thing she would often say was, “nothing hurts when I am in the warm, dry climate there”.

As you can see, most of our mom’s life was spent working for her children and others. Quite simply there are not enough words to describe how much we appreciated everything that our mom, or Oma, as she was known to her grandchildren. We tried our best to tell our mother how much we loved her and valued everything that she had sacrificed for us while she was trying to fight through this horrible virus that we have in our life now and we pray that she is in a better place now. We will miss our mother, our grandmother and our friend more than words can say and we hope that she has joined her husband, sister, her parents and other relatives and friends who have passed before her.

We will try to hold a service for our mother at a later date to allow more people to join in celebrating her life.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.firstmemorialnorthvancouver.com for the Wruck family.