Our beloved Thomas was ripped out of our lives on February 1, by an aggressive cancer that swept through him in 11 short days. He had been happy and healthy up until then, working hard on our property, creating walking trails to be able to enjoy the land into old age. He was living his best life in his workshop, creating beautiful furniture and discovering the joy of lathe work and building fine pieces from wood he had collected.
Thomas was bigger than life, full of ideas and projects, still waiting to be done. He leaves behind his long time life companions, Katharine, Christel and Ron,as well as his two children, Andreas and Janina, and grandchildren, Makena, Caeden , Amanda and Ryan.
Thomas and Christel fell in love with Salt Spring Island, and the whole family moved to the farm on North Beach Rd from Germany in 1982, to fulfill Thomas and his father’s dream of living a life on the land, with nature and fishing in the beauty of Canada.
Thomas and Christel and the children very proudly received their Canadian citizenship at the earliest date possible.
After some years of living between Wallace Island and the farm, Thomas, Ron, Christel and Katharine , “the Big Four”, some called us, lived and worked together on the farm until 2017, when we all moved to a smaller property. Our lives were full of working the farm, making sausages,growing organic vegetables for local stores, raising chickens, all sorts of ventures, as well as our painting business, Karris Painting.
Thomas touched the lives of a lot of people on the island, he and Ron building a variety of custom pieces for so many people over the years.
Fishing was one of his many pleasures, so many happy days spent on our own boats in local waters, and many wonderful trips up to Haida Gwai and most recently his favourite place, Kyuquat.
He will be profoundly missed by all of us that loved him, he has left a huge gaping hole in our home and our hearts.