Renate Herta Brigl

1942 – 2013

Renate Herta Brigl, 70, passed away peacefully, surrounded by her family, on Thursday, April 18, 2013 in Cranbrook, B.C. at Joseph Creek Village. She was born on September 13, 1942 in Berlin, Germany, to Reinhold and Luise Hundt.

Renate spent her early childhood in Berlin. After the death of her father, she returned with her mother and brother Hans to her mother’s hometown of Selb. Growing up in this porcelain capital of Germany, Renate gained an early appreciation for fine things. With her journeyman’s ticket in hairdressing in hand, she moved to Munich in her early twenties to seek adventure. There, while taking a ski course, she met her future husband, Albert.

After their marriage in 1968, they had two children, Gundula and Ursula. Looking for clean air, sunshine, wide-open spaces and the fulfillment of a long-time dream, the family moved overseas to settle in Cranbrook in 1979. They built their home in Gold Creek and took much pleasure in the ever-changing view of the mountains. A third daughter, Sonja, was born in Canada.

Renate loved to be outside, and worked hard to build a beautiful garden to surround their new house. Here she created, by instinct, a garden of many colours and large size, which was widely admired. During the many summers the family spent at their cabin on Kootenay Lake near Riondel, Renate devoted all her energies to tending the forest, beach and cabin to create an idyllic retreat that the family enjoys to this day.

Along with running the household, she started a hairdressing salon, Charming Lady Beauty Salon. She became close friends with many of her clients and always enjoyed bumping into people she knew in town and catching up on the latest news. Wherever she was, Renate or Mama as she was known to family and friends, created an atmosphere of warmth, welcome and beauty.

She loved to see the world, even sailing as part of the crew on a yacht from Africa to South America on a 2 month journey when she was 65. After her first visit in 1998, part of her heart belonged to Hawaii, with its tropical plants and white sandy beaches and many memories of the family together.

Always enthusiastic and bubbling over with life, Mama was the driving force behind family activities. Whether hiking, gardening, travelling, or just doing daily activities there was never a dull moment in her presence. But she also enjoyed quiet times at home as a voracious reader and a great lover of dogs.

Above all Mama loved her family, to whom she devoted her life. In 2011 she was overjoyed to welcome her granddaughter, Isabel Vogel (born to Sonja and her husband Paul Vogel), to the world.

Passionate, enthusiastic, loving, genuine, and warm, no one who met her ever forgot her.

www.mcphersonfh.com

Feature photo courtesy of Through My Eyes Photography

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