HANS FERBER

Condolences & Memories (3 entries)

• Wow. I am truly sorry to learn of Hans's passing. Truly a shock and way too young. Hans and I worked together in Woolco in Westbrook Mall in Calgary and then again as DM's in Woolco. I was just remembering our times we spent in the Air Canada Loubge waiting for flights out of Toronto and found this. RIP Old Friend - Posted by: Zane Lowell (Friend) on: Oct 29, 2025

• My condolences to Delaney and sons Matthew, David and Christopher. Although this is a sad time of loss, I believe in time we would want to recall happier memories of good times and I wanted to share mine with you. When I saw his photo and name in the obituaries, I was sure he was my old friend, Hansen, from elementary school. Hansen and I were in Grade 6 together at Lord Wolesley School on Henderson Highway in 1962 to 1963. Then the Ferber family lived on Oakview Avenue just off Henderson Highway. I lived upstairs above a shop in my grandmother's two storey building at 801 Henderson Highway. Hansen and I were friends and played and rode our bikes a lot. I still have our school class picture. Hansen and I are standing side by side in Mr.Funk's class. On the cardboard holder, where there are lines for the names of the students, his is the only name I wrote. So we must have been really good friends. ( If you would like to see it, I could scan it to you. Just e-mail me at jsych@shaw.ca ) My memory comes from what must have been during the summer holiday of 1963. It was the end of the school year, the end of elementary school and the end of my living on Henderson Highway, because my family was moving to Garden City. Being in that frame of mind, the idea came up of doing something special, something big - let's ride our bikes to Lockport ! It was completely spontaneous like many great (or not so great) ideas. We didn't tell our parents or take any food or water ( they weren't as packaged or bottled and portable like now ). It was a glorious, sunny day. So we aimed our bicycles north up Henderson Highway and took off. Oh the excitement and freedom ! We pedalled on and on, eventually seeing less buildings and more countryside. Fourteen miles is a long way ! By the time we got to Lockport, it had become a hot day. So, no time to enjoy the sights of town, just turn around and get home. After a long time we were hot and very thirsty. Along the highway, I remember seeing a woman holding a hose and watering her large yard. We rode up to her, asking desperately for a drink from the hose. We were allowed only a small amount of water she sprayed once into our cupped hands. That was the only drink we had for the whole ride. Eventually we got back to the city and our homes. It was still light out and everything seemed fine. I can't remember any outstanding consequences. I'm sure I was told never to do anything like that again and always to inform your parents. I don't remember Hansen telling me about what happened with him. Then my family and I moved away and Hansen and I never saw each other any more. That summer I thought Hansen and I had had a great adventure. I thought we had achieved something remarkable, symbolic, even a coming of age. That's my memory of a lifetime with Hansen. A good friend who clearly became a good man. - Posted by: Jeff Sych (friend) on: May 12, 2016

• I learned the other day of the passing of someone I considered a friend and mentor. I was surprised myself of how hard I took it. And it made me reflect why I felt the way I did. Unfortunately in my life, I have lost people close to me. It affected me in different ways. This one though threw me for a loop. As I thought more about it, I began to realize there was a part of myself I had to come to terms with on where I had traveled in my life to bring me to today. Nineteen years ago, I wasn’t the person I am now. I didn’t have the self confidence or belief in who I was, (yes, I know, hard for some of you to believe). I had just emerged from a difficult time in my life and was trying to piece together which direction I needed to go in. My parents were both gone and I had isolated myself from many others. This was going to be a rebuild. Then I found myself managing a business in downtown Winnipeg on Portage Avenue. Where the Hydro Building now stands. I was also now living in a basement shack off Corydon. Looking back, it became one of the greatest periods of my life. In 1998, the 31 year old version of myself was much different than the one you may know today. I was beginning to learn to crawl again. Then I ended up meeting Annabella, who would eventually become my wife. Things were starting to fall into place. The store I ran was the home location for my District Manager. I know some of my retail friends never wanted their boss so close to them. I personally loved it. I always knew what was going on. It was great to always be in the loop. When I first met my boss, we hit it off immediately. We had known some people in common from our previous retail lives and could relate to one another rather easily. And the discussions we would have regarding our philosophies of how to run the business meshed extremely well. Some of my favorite memories of that time was just us sitting in Salsbury House every morning, going through reports, and him telling me stories of his experiences. The coffee was usually lousy, but the conversations were fantastic. Somewhere along the way, I realized he was becoming a trusted friend and mentor to me. I was just some guy he was just getting to know too and here was entrusting and empowering me to make decisions that would greatly impact the business. And if you think that giving someone a sense of trust and confidence isn’t an important thing, think again. I don’t know if many of us take the time to reflect about those people who truly impact our lives. And I’m talking about those people who because we spent them time with them, our own lives become that much more enriched from what we learned from them. And perhaps even in turn, what other people have even gained from being associated with ourselves. I read many posts here of people that are less than confident in themselves. Those that have been left feeling vulnerable from life’s battles. I can relate to a lot of it. To a point at least. I find myself wondering if more people would seek out a mentor in their lives, what effect that would have on them. And be willing to be open to what criticisms and feedback they were given. The thing about criticism is, within it lies the truth. It’s up to own ego if we choose to accept it. Or do we keep telling ourselves them same lies over and over again that they are wrong? My mentor never once told me how I should live my life. He never told me I should do this or that specifically. What he did do that was so effective though was provide me with the tools to start making better decisions based upon factual evidence. He made me think more about the bigger picture. He challenged me to think beyond my comfort zone. I still make mistakes. What changed though was my conscience would now make me look back at some of those decisions and figure out what I did wrong. As I write this, I even now realize even more how much I grew. And still continue to evolve. And as I thought about it all, I also discovered part of what made my mentor so appealing to me was the realization he was flawed too. He made mistakes in his life. And that was something I could relate to even more. But with his admitted mistakes, he would eventually take the steps to try to correct them. There are no perfect people. We have our good days and those that don’t go the way we had hoped. It’s not about what happens, it’s how we choose to react to it. As the years went on, we would stay in touch. Sometimes it was by accident we would cross paths again. We would see how each other through the years had changed and grown. And the stuff we left in our lives, and the stuff we left out. He was a man that wore many hats. He was the guy I called to do our home inspection when we bought our house. The man knew everything it seemed like. Annabella was very fond of him too. He was always very kind to her and was as respectful to her as he was everyone he met. He was a genuine person. I must admit we hadn’t seen each other in the last couple of years. We are all busy people. I knew where he was working and through the pipeline, I knew he was around. I guess I always just assumed we’d cross paths again at some point like we always did. Then I got word cancer had claimed him like it has so many others. I was stunned. A person who had so much impact on my life, a person who somehow came along at the right time in my life, is now gone. And I am left with many good memories. And so many lessons he taught me. The crazy part of all this is – I don’t think he ever really knew I looked at him as a mentor. It’s not like we ever sat there over coffee and I said to him “Hey man, I really look up to you…” It just kinda happened that way. But I do know this – he was the only person that ever called me his “chum.” He would call me that many times. And he was mine too. And now I am left to use this social media outset to say the things I never said to him. So, thank-you Hans. Thank-you for believing in me at I time I didn’t believe in myself. Thank-you for your words, your guidance, and friendship. What I learned from you through the years still resonate with me to this day. And always will. You probably never knew the difference you made in this guys life. And I am grateful I met you. My sincerest condolences to Delaney, Matthew, David and Christopher. May your soul rest in peace. I will do my best not to let you down. - Posted by: Brad Harrison (friend) on: May 06, 2016