Ruth Helen Haase

May 19, 1925 – November 24, 2022 

Ruth Helen Heger was born on May 19, 1925, in Windeck, Oberschlesien, Germany. She was the middle child in a family of three boys and six girls.

After some years, the family moved to a farm located along the Polish border, where Ruth’s father worked as a customs officer. When the war broke out, the family had to flee and got separated, and it wasn’t until the end of the war that Ruth found her mother and her four youngest siblings again.

In 1948, Ruth married a tall, lanky, good-looking fellow by the name of Erich Haase. He had been a prisoner of war in Canada, working in the lumber camps of Alberta and harvesting crops across Manitoba. He had fallen in love with the country and his dream was to return to Canada as quickly as possible. In 1953, Ruth and Erich, along with their first child, boarded a ship at Bremerhaven and headed across the Atlantic to start a new life.

The first few years in Winnipeg were difficult but, by 1959, Ruth and Erich were able to buy their first house on Roberta Avenue. That was their home for the next ten years until they moved to Dunrobin Avenue, where Ruth spent the next 42 years of her life. Even after Erich’s death in 2002, Ruth continued on by herself, caring for her home and gardens. At age 88, Ruth moved to Concordia Village. She complained at first about being surrounded by so many old people but eventually came to enjoy her new home and all her new friends.

Ruth was an exceptional lady. She could sew and knit and crochet. She was an excellent cook and worked at Salisbury House and as head cook at one of the seniors’ homes in Winnipeg, as well as running her own restaurant for a while. She was a superb baker and made the most wonderful pies and tortes. She was an artist and a performer, having written scripts and acted on stage in several productions while still in Germany. She had a wonderful sense of humour and loved to make people laugh, and even blush sometimes. She had a sweet, bubbly, and sometimes-mischievous personality. Her presence will be missed by so many.

Ruth leaves behind her children Trudi Margueratt (Gary), Patricia Haase (Gordon Gold), Ronald Haase (Ramona), Richard Haase (Jene Metzener), and Kent Haase (Lisa Enns); grandchildren Erika Margueratt (Boris Koenig), Lia Margueratt (Tino Schwionteck), Daryl Haase, Karly Capina (Rupert), Eric Haase, Anton Haase, Hanna Haase, Sofia Enns, and Natasha Enns; great-grandchildren Connor Thomson, Lachlan Thomson, Rory Capina, Carlos Capina, Neven Schwiontek, Hannah Schwiontek, Katrina Koenig and Heath Koenig; and one sister, Roswitha Paul (Lucas).

A memorial gift may be made to Concordia Hospital Foundation in lieu of flowers.