Gerhard Gross

Gerhard was born in Stangenrod, Westerwald, Germany on April 27th, 1935, the third child of four to Herman and Louise Gross. Gerhard lived half of his childhood through the Second World War, which caused him to take strong pacifist views throughout his life.

At the age of 15, he began working in construction and at the age of 16 began his apprenticeship for Master Brick and Tiles Layer. He fell in love and married Lina (Schneider) on January 7th, 1956. Within 4 short years, Bruno, Tom, Heike and Chris were born and a new house was built.

In 1964, Gerhard, Lina and their four children immigrated to Canada to fulfill a dream of owning a farm. They settled in Perth County, Ontario and began to purchase and build up a successful Dairy Herd. He started with Jerseys and transitioned into Brown Swiss. Life on the farm was a family affair and a strong German work ethic was required to make things run smoothly and efficiently.

In 1977, the family moved up to the Peace Country to give opportunity for Bruno and Tom to farm. Gerhard and Lina purchased land from Murray Kendrew and continued to farm in the Highland Park area till 2012 when they retired and moved into town.

Throughout his years in the Peace Country, Gerhard continued to use his skills to build numerous fireplaces, brick and tile work throughout Fairview and the area for others.
Faith in Christ was a very important part of Gerhard’s life. He was involved with the Bluesky Christian Fellowship in many capacities over the years.

Gerhard was known for his honesty, integrity, wisdom, generosity and self-sacrifice, neighbourliness, hospitality and hard work. He loved reading and took a keen interest in History. His love for his wife and family was evident in numerous ways. He especially loved taking the family for rides in his hand-built kayak on our northern Alberta lakes.

Gerhard passed away at the Fairview Longterm Care on February 25th, 2022 after a long illness with dementia at age 86. He leaves his wife Lina of 66 years, sons, Bruno (Susan), Tom (Angela), and daughters, Heike, and Chris (Stan). Grandchildren: Aaron, Megan, Wade, Melanie, Tyrel, Lindsay and Darnell, Heather, Jolene, Courtney, Leah, Kara and Shawna as well as 16 great-grandchildren.
Gerhard is Pre-deceased by his parents and brothers, Klaus, Edwin and Helmut, and son-in-law Ted Ingram.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, March 5th at the Bluesky Christian Fellowship at 2:00 pm. Lives-streaming will be available for those who can’t attend. Internment at the Waterhole Cemetery will follow and a Lunch will be served at the Dunvegan Motor Inn Banquet Room at 3:30 pm.
For those that wish to join the service, you can follow on the live stream by clicking here

Anyone wishing to make a Donation in Gerhard’s name can donate to the Mennonite Disaster Service or MCC Alberta.

Care entrusted to Peace Valley Funeral Home

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