Edward Rebl

Ed trained as a machinist in his native Germany before joining the merchant marine as an engineer, travelling widely as a sailor in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Oceania. In the late nineteen-sixties, he came to Canada via Montreal, and worked in Toronto, Kitchener, and Sudbury, before making his way out west to Vancouver. In love with the landscape and sense of freedom he found there, he decided to stay. In 1973, he began working in the Tahsis sawmill on Vancouver Island, eventually becoming lumber inspector, a position he held for nearly thirty years.

In 1985, Ed met his wife Susan, with whom he would spend the rest of his life and raise two sons, Glyn and Julian, in the Comox Valley. The family relocated to Victoria in 2004. In the years before retiring, Ed worked as the site coordinator in the Herzberg Institute Of Astrophysics, where he enjoyed chatting with the scientists and also adopted a stray cat he named Sally.

Ed was an energetic, inquisitive man with many interests who rarely experienced boredom. He had passions for antiques, art, music, history, languages, and politics. In addition to his intellectual pursuits, he liked to work with his hands, and there was little he couldn’t fix on his own. As a father and husband, Ed was always present, ready to help his family and set them up for success in any way he could. In his retirement years, he was a common sight riding his bike in the Fairfield/James Bay/Downtown area of Victoria along with his wife, or enjoying a cold beer on his front deck in Fairfield, watching the ocean and reminiscing about times long past.

He is survived by his wife Susan, and his sons Glyn and Julian, who will miss him dearly. Schlaf gut, mein Liebling.