Helmut was born in Etzgen, Germany en route to Switzerland, on September 26, 1944, to Anton and Karolina (Schott) Hunkeler. He was the youngest of seven children. He married Mariel Barney (Greenville, SC) on August 7, 1981, in Bertiswil, Switzerland.
Helmut served in the Swiss Military, where he was a small weapons mechanic, an expert marksman, and an airplane mechanic and eventually became a mechanical engineer, which brought him to the to the US as a service engineer in the textile industry, working at SSM in Spartanburg. He next spent many years working in sales and merchandising in the printing and gaming for Mosiac, where he was the top Epson sales representative in the US, and in the grocery industry with Acosta where he enjoyed working with his colleagues and clients.
Helmut loved Mountain climbing in the Alps and glacier climbing in Scandinavia, and biked from Switzerland to Italy with friends. He was an avid skier in Switzerland and the US. He was also part of the Spartanburg Ski Club here in the states. Helmut was also an amazing and accomplished artist who created magic with oil paints. He loved walking his dog and fishing, especially when with his children Laine and Drew. He bragged on them all the time to everyone he could.
Helmut is survived by his wife of 38 years Mariel (Barney) and their two children Laine, Las Vegas, NV, and Drew, Japan, a brother Josef, sister-in-law Kathy Barney, nephew Alex Beacham, special nieces Odile Hunkeler and Cornelia Wandeler-Bucheli, beloved pets Smokey and Bob, and many friends.
Funeral Mass will be held at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, 307 Gower Street
Greenville, SC 29611; 864.233.7717 on Thursday June 20, 2019 at 6:00PM with Father Patrick Tuttle, OFM as Presider. A reception will immediately follow Mass in the Church Social Hall.
Condolences can be made to the family at www.woodlawn-fh.com.
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