Obituary of Helga Veronika Thiessen
Helga Veronika Thiessen passed away on Saturday, October 17th surrounded by her loving family. She is survived by husband Rolf, son Christian and partner Nicole Fuca, daughter Leah and partner Philipp Mohr, son Konrad and partner Madison Freeman, sister Heidemarie Marthol, and mother Maria Marthol. She will also be greatly missed by dear family friends James, Matt and Kathy, along with her very special sisterhood of friends, too numerous to name.
Helga was born in St. Catharines, Ontario and moved to Waterloo with Rolf in 1985. She moved through the world by foot, by bike, and more recently, by Westphalia, in a blur of perpetual motion. She had two, year-long runaway sojourns to Germany, in 1991 and 2010, and spent decades exploring Canada – West to Vancouver and the Rockies, East to Halifax, Nova Scotia and the Atlantic Ocean and, in between, to the beaches, lakes, forests and villages throughout her beloved Ontario.
Happiest poling along the forest floor beneath a canopy of green, she was a woman of many talents who spent her life peppering the world with splendor.
As a landscape designer, she leaves behind garden vistas throughout the Waterloo Region built of petals, and leaves and rocks and trees. In her prowess as a kitchen magician, her scrumptious creations touched both the taste buds and souls of those lucky enough to share her table, in a home that screamed of her passion for art and pottery and her innate knack for making the eclectic into aesthetic eye-candy. Proudly standing at the front door of her Westvale Drive Green home, she’d enthusiastically wave hello or goodbye to a non ending, extraordinary parade of the many friends she welcomed to her home and world throughout her life.
During the last year, Helga faced the path to her final ‘great adventure’ exactly as she lived, squeezing out adventure after adventure, confounding family and friends with her unending stores of energy, bottomless depths of passion and infinite capacity for giving and caring to all. To her last day, she was intent on scheduling visits to a lineup of friends, determined to give every individual what they needed, before she went on her way.
Helga was a woman of much love and many loves, but the greatest of all was her love for and with the family she and Rolf shared – Christian, Leah and Konrad. As their sons and daughter arrived to be with her, the rooms in her house filled up two-by-two – Christian and Nicole, Leah and Phillip, and Konrad and Madi (by video). With them came the noise and laughter of a family well-loved, the walking, talking confirmation of an amazing mother, deeply invested in setting a solid foundation for her children to become the mature, compassionate and giving adults they are today.
To all those who loved and will now miss Helga, do so with a smile, imagining her energy and spirit shaking things up as she chases rainbows and butterflies and stars across the sky.
Adieu, beautiful Helga.
A private memorial service will be held on Thursday, October 22, 2020 at 11:00 a.m. For those wishing to attend, Helga’s service may be viewed livestream by clicking here.
Condolences for the family and donations to Nature Conversancy of Canada or MEDA’s “Women’s Economic Empowerment” fund may be arranged by contacting the funeral home at www.erbgood.com or 519-745-8445.
Following the funeral, all are invited to do a Walkthrough of Helga’s Garden, on Westvale Drive, between 1pm and 5pm. Because of COVID restrictions, contract tracing and the need to monitor numbers, we have a sign-up sheet where you can register for time slots. You will find all details on the sign up sign up form. Please click this link to register for your walk: https://www.slottr.com/HelgaThiessen