Remembering Hans-Heinz

Monday, August 8th 2011 @ 1:52 PM post viewed 899 times

We go through life being influenced and amazed by other humans. Hans-Heinz was one of those people to me. Always with a smile, even when things were not going the best at the moment. There were times when the going was a little tougher for Heinz, biking, skiing, but I had to consider that he was on this planet for a bit longer time than me...about 26 years. It really didn't matter how tough the going was, Heinz seemed tougher. If he went down, he got back up and kept going. He never gave up, even when he was banged up. Whenever I saw Heinz, I always broke into a smile. He was always smiling too ( I wonder if he smiled in his sleep!). Here was a guy many years my senior, who never quit. I would be feeling my age sometimes, but seeing Heinz, or even thinking about him gave me a boost of energy to ride harder/longer, or suck it up and ski better. He was the type of person that made you realize that you yourself could do more, push your envelope, reach a little farther then you thought you could. He was, in essence, someone to emulate. I did, and hope to continue.

But enough about how Heinz influenced me. There was a Wednesday club biking outing down in Tully. It's a nice area to bike in, not to hilly and all. When we start out, wer'e supposed to sign out, then sign in when we get back. This is so no one gets left out there in the dark or worse. Well, everyone signed out and away we went. When we returned, we'd put a checkmark next to our name so our leaders would know that everyone returned before heading home. One night, we waited because Heinz hadn't signed back in, and no one else saw him either. Time went by, and we wondered if we should start driving around in the area to see if we could find him. A phone call finally came in from Heinz. It was close to real darkness, and he was over the hills in another village calling from a pub. This was not on our route map, so Heinz had struck out on his own. Someone at the pub decided to drive him back to Tully, so loaded him and his bike into a vehicle and drove him back to Tully.

Adventures with Heinz were, well, adventures. Whatever, wherever, it was fun with Heinz. I'll miss him.
MPM

I encourage everyone that has a story about the man to add it so everyone else can enjoy.

Comments

Marvin Patnode
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Marvp said on Monday, August 8th 2011 @ 1:54 PM:

Jan Carr wrote:

i remember a wedesday biking night i called 911 because hans was not in on a hot augest night. he was about a half hour over do. they sent a helicopter up after him. what a night, all was well but he put a good scare in larry and i along with the rest of the riders waiting for news

jan

Mary Jo DiNuzzo
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MaryJoDinuzzo said on Thursday, November 10th 2011 @ 2:22 PM:

One very warm Wednesday night when we were biking with Heinz, he got off his bike and laid down by the side of the road. Some lady who was driving by stopped to see if he was okay and then gave him a ride to a point further along the bike route.

I also remember when the ski club went on a trip to Whistler, he joined my group for dinner and told us all about how he was forced to be a German soldier in WWII and he had to fight against the Americans. If I remember the story correctly, when the war ended, he had to walk back to his hometown and by the time he arrived, he was skin and bones.