Arnold Snepers

Through the stories that Arnold shared over the years, this brief history of him was pieced together. Not every story is mentioned here, not every important person is included either. But some of the significant times in Arnolds life are described in order to try and remember and acknowledge what shaped him to be the person we all know.

Arnold was born in Balve, Latvia on April 1st 1926. He had one brother who died very young. He also had one sister (named Astrid) who has since passed away. Astrid left one son (Gunars) who still lives in Latvia.

Arnold's father worked in a supervisory role in the railroad in Latvia among other jobs. Arnold's mother was a homemaker, dressmaker, and occasional baker for community events.

In his youth Arnold spent his days helping his family with chores after school and stayed out of trouble (most of the time). In the summers he would travel to stay with extended family where, being the only child there, he was pretty much free to do whatever he wanted. He used to talk about how he rode horses when he was only five years old, sometimes getting comments from neighbors that he was going to get hurt being so young.

When he reached his early teen years, he enrolled in trade school. Arnold often talked about how hard it was to be a 14-year-old living away from your family and going to school six days a week. After the first year many of his classmates left the school. Arnold explained that they just weren't ready for it at that age. On the weekends he'd ride his single speed bicycle many kilometers along the hilly Latvian country roads to get home. He'd explain how he would have to walk up some of those hills. "Not like bicycles today where you can change the gears," he'd say.

He was able to delay military service to finish trade school, but eventually enrolled. The war left a definite mark on Arnold. He survived many difficult extremes with his strength of mind. As the war finally came to an end and he was able to be freed from being a prisoner of war, Arnold made his way to Germany. He worked mainly as a chauffeur in these days, working for a particularly difficult military officer and being one of the only drivers who was able to do so successfully. Arnold would explain how the officer would, "...treat you well as long as you kept his car clean and opened the door for him and his lady guests.” No need to open the door if the officer didn't have company.

It was in Oldenburg, Germany where Arnold met his first wife, Waltrout. They would have their first daughter, Ilona, in 1949. The couple was given an opportunity to immigrate to one of three countries - The US, Australia, or Canada. They chose Canada.

Arnold, Waltrout, and Ilona arrived in Halifax, Canada on April 1, 1951 - Arnold's birthday.

After working in the lumber industry in Quebec, and some other roles along the way, he eventually landed in Hamilton, Ontario where he worked at Stelco for the rest of his career. Arnold was proud of being the youngest forman in one of the toughest roles in the steel mill. He was so young that one of the policies at Stelco specified that he was not eligible to receive as high of a wage as the more senior formen, despite having the same responsibilities. Arnold spoke often of running a tight ship with almost no downtime. He was so dedicated to keeping his section of the mill running smoothly that he refused to use the elevator, instead opting to climb several flights of stairs multiple times daily in order to avoid the risk of being stuck inside the elevator during one of its frequent breakdowns.

With his first daughter, Ilona, at only four years of age and his second daughter, Wanda, at only one year of age, Arnold's first wife, Waltrout, left him. For nearly a decade, Arnold provided for his daughters with the live-in caregivers that he would pay for out of pocket. Eventually, Arnold met his second wife Anne. Anne and Arnold continued their lives together until Anne fell ill and ultimately passed away young, only reaching the middle of her life.

After these difficult times, Arnold eventually met his third wife Gisela who had two daughters, Karen and Sandy. He continued to work at the steel mill and lived in west Hamilton. As time went on, Arnold continued working. His work and savings allowed him to afford supporting a home and eventually a cottage in Tobermory.

The cottage was one of Arnold's favourite places on this earth, besides Latvia of course. Every chance he got, he would spend at the cottage - even if he had to cross-country ski on the snow-covered backroads to get there. He was definitely an outdoorsman and loved being by the water. But life took another turn on the family and in the late 1980s, Gisela became ill and passed away too soon, leaving her daughters and Arnold.

After a grieving period, Arnold's resilience continued as did his life and work. In the 1990s through a mutual friend, Arnold met Mudrite (nee Avots) a bright, energetic, lovely lady who so happened to also be from Latvia. Mudrite was visiting a friend in Canada and Arnold was asked to help take Mudi to the airport for her flight home. He and Mudi stayed in touch - writing letters to each other and talking on the phone. Eventually, their relationship grew, resulting in Mudi moving to Canada and marrying Arnold. Over the years that followed, Mudi and Arnold would visit Latvia (Mudi has a son, daughter, and grandchildren there) and spend a lot of their time at the cottage in Tobermory.

Mudi was sweet, funny, athletic, outdoorsy and had a beautiful singing voice. She stayed involved with the Latvian community in Hamilton including the church and the library, throughout her time in Canada. Again, life took a turn and in the 2010s, Mudi became ill with Alzheimer's. Arnold was adamant that she stay at their home as long as possible so Mudi could remain as comfortable as she could be. At the beginning of 2022, Arnold lost one of his daughters, Wanda. While grieving the loss of Wanda, Arnold also had to cope with Mudi's recent hospitalization in the late stages of her disease. With help from family, Arnold would visit Mudi every week with fresh fruits and her other favourite foods to make sure she was eating and staying as healthy as possible. He took care of her the best he could until she passed away in July 2023.

Through these stages of Arnold's life he learned to speak three languages: Latvian, German, and English. He had seen too many of his friends and family pass on - some long before their time. There's so much more to say about Arnold's history - tragedies, and accomplishments - than we've mentioned today. Ninety eight years is more than a lifetime for most. But even with these small snapshots of his history, we can get an idea of how he became the person we knew. Something we can all agree on is that he had been through more than most of us can imagine. And he always said what he felt. They don't come more honest than him. We'll miss you Arn, Pa, Pup.

Arnold will be lovingly remembered as the father of Ilona and her family - grandchildren (Alex, Skye, John) and great-grandchildren (Sam, Mila, Ollie, Finn), father of Late Wanda her family - grandchildren (Trevor, Ryan), Son in-law (Don), grandchild in-law (Jesse), and great- grandchildren (Wesley, Melina, Reiker), and step-father of Sandy and Karen, and Sandy's children (Nicolas and Maegan).

In accordance with his wishes, cremation and private services have taken place.