Tribute

MY   EARTHLY  JOURNEY

Arthur  B  Hoock  –  August 2016

I was the first of four children born to Nick and Helen (Friesen) Hoock on March 26, 1939.  The birth took place on my parents’ pioneer farm in the North Otter area of Langley, BC, with Dr Arthur Rose and my mid-wife grandmother Friesen present.  Thankfully, the Dr was in attendance, as I had to be resuscitated because the umbilical chord was wrapped around my neck.

Growing up on a chicken and strawberry farm, life was mostly uneventful, yet wonderful.  My Hoock and Friesen grandparents lived either side of my parents’ farm,  adding considerably to my life and education.  Because theirs and my parents’ first language was German, having been born in German speaking Ukrainian villages, this also became my first language.  The local Coghlan (later Bethel) Mennonite Church also used the German language,  so when I started school I knew very little English.  Since my parents remained on the farm, I was able to take all my elementary and high school grades in the municipality of Langley.  Naturally, living on the farm also meant there was always work and regular chores to do, but I think this helped me to learn good work habits.

After graduating from high school in 1957 I began work at a company manufacturing hot water heating equipment in Vancouver, and became the shop foreman after a number of years.  I took some night school drafting courses and in 1964 started working in the drafting office of Glulam Products, located at Fraser Mills in Coquitlam,  becoming chief draftsman after four years.  This company manufactured laminated beams, arches and columns used in industrial, commercial and church structures.  When Glulam Products closed its doors, I worked at odd jobs for a while and then became a structural and miscellaneous steel draftsman,  working twenty years for Dowco Consultants and finishing my working career at Tru-Line Drafting.  During the years at these companies I produced steel fabrication drawings for structures in BC and south of the border,  and also drew up house plans and various building projects in my home office.  I retired at the end of March 2001 at age 62.

I am very thankful that I was able to grow up in a Christian family and community.  At age 19 I gave my life to Christ and was baptized by sprinkling at the Bethel Mennonite Church in Langley on May 25, 1958 by Rev Nick N Friesen.  I became active in the Bethel youth group and eventually was attracted to and dated a beautiful young lady by the name of Vicky Warkentin, and on December 24, 1959, we became engaged, but her parents felt I was not a good choice for their daughter, and indicated our wedding would be very sad.  At age 19 Vicky was not able to marry in Canada without parental consent, so we were married July 23, 1960 in Monroe, Washington by Rev Norman Bergen, pastor of the Mennonite Church there.  We were very certain that God had meant us to be together, and later her parents learned to accept the fact that Vicky and I dearly loved each other.

We rented a basement suite and both worked in Vancouver for over a year.  By the time our first son, Ron, was born, April 16, 1962, we were renting a cabin on Fraser Hwy at 240^th Street, close to where we were building our first house on an acre of bush land.  Our second son, Steve, was born December 13, 1964,  and this completed our family.  We sold our unfinished house in the forest and in April 1966 moved to a new, mostly finished house near the Port Mann Bridge in Surrey, close to my workplace across the Fraser River.

Before the boys started school, we felt that a country setting would provide a better environment for them  to grow up in,  so we moved back to Langley in 1968 and built a house on five acres near the D W Poppy Secondary School,  where we lived until both boys had graduated and married.

Looking for less acreage to care for,  we built a new energy efficient rancher and a large shop on a half acre in 1986,  located at 5711 – 247A Street, on the back of what used to be my parents’ farm.

During these various moves, we remained members at the Bethel Mennonite Church where I was involved in various ways over the years: church choir, teaching Sunday School,  Youth Leader, Evangelism Committee, and  Board of Trustees.  Vicky and I were Deacons at Bethel for four years.

In the days of raising a family and earning a living, there was not much time for hobby pursuits.  These came later.  Genealogy and history intrigued me and I created many ancestral charts and wrote or contributed articles for a number of history books.  After researching and writing the history for the book ‘Bethel Mennonite Church 1936 – 1980’,  my interest for this sort of thing grew.  In 1984 I produced booklets about my grandparents: ‘History of the Dietrich Johann Friesens’ and ‘History of Julius Hoock and Susanna Janzen’.  I contributed 19 historic articles for ‘The Place Between 1940 – 1970’, published by the Aldergrove Heritage Society in 2001.  The life of my parents, ‘Nick and Helen Friesen Hoock Story’ was completed in 2003,  just over a year before my mother passed away.  By the end of October 2011,  Vicky and I finished our book, ‘Art and Vicky Warkentin Hoock Story’. In 2013 Vicky and I completed the story about her Mom’s family, ‘Remembering The Jacob and Maria Reinke Elias Family’.  In 2014 I finalized the history booklet about Camp Squeah, located in Hope, BC.     After moving to Abbotsford in 2008,  both Vicky and I volunteered at the Mennonite Historical Society of BC for seven years.

The old car hobby is something we have enjoyed since about 1981,  at which time Vicky and I returned from Oklahoma with a 1956 Plymouth purchased from my dad’s cousin, Alvina Hoock. We joined the Vintage Car Club of Canada, Central Fraser Valley Chapter in Abbotsford, where we met many wonderful people and enjoyed tours, picnics, swap meets, etc. together.   The Plymouth we sold to someone from Michigan in 2004.  Our first new vehicle, a 1966 Plymouth Belvedere station wagon, became our second vintage car when it was 25 years old and eventually ended up in Suderman’s Shady Grove Museum in Abbotsford in 2009.  In May 2015 we sold our last vintage car, a 1968 Chrysler New Yorker.  I am grateful that Vicky has enjoyed the old car hobby together with me.

Other than our regular Canadian holidays, mainly to Radium Hot Springs, as well as a number of trips east as far as Steinbach, we have taken a few major trips to other destinations.  Vicky and I took a bus trip to Harrah’s Transportation Museum,  Reno, Nevada in 1977 and again in 1979 before it was closed.  Prior to our boys no longer wanting to holiday with us, we visited Disneyland and other Las Angeles locations in 1978.  In September 1995 we joined fellow Mennonites on a three week Mennonite Heritage Tour in Europe, led by Dr John B Toews.  This trip of a lifetime took us to the Netherlands, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary and the Ukraine, the birthplace of our parents.  In 2008,  after moving to our Abbotsford condo, we joined a tour group and flew to Dover, England,  where we boarded a cruise ship on which we traveled the Baltic Sea stopping in various countries,  the highlight being two days in St. Petersburg,  Russia.  We stayed on board the ship for the repositioning cruise to New York via the Shetland Islands, Iceland, St. John’s and Halifax.  From New York we flew to Seattle and on to Vancouver.  For our 50^th anniversary in 2010 we took a cruise to Alaska.

Vicky and I started attending Bakerview Church in Abbotsford in late 1988 and soon felt at home in this warm and friendly fellowship.  We became participants in the Sunday morning greeting team and were also asked to be representatives for MCC, resulting in some volunteering for this organization, especially preparing for the huge annual sale every September.

My health has been very good for the most part, but experienced a kidney stone in 1971 and toe surgery in 2001.  In October 2014 I had a mild stroke and 14 months later, December 2015, I had another stroke which affected my speech and the ability to read, which was very frustrating for me.  Since then I had three more strokes;  March 2017,  August 2019 and December 2019, the last one leaving me with partial paralysis on the right side.

I thank God for the wonderful family He has given me.  Vicky has been my best friend and the love of my life.  In 1985 we celebrated our 25^th anniversary and that year both our sons were married to very special Christian girls.  We are proud of our five grandchildren, three of whom are now married, and thankful that all have accepted Jesus as their Saviour; a definite answer to prayer.  God also blessed us with five Great-Grandchildren.  In 2010 Vicky and I celebrated our 50 years together and our sons celebrated 25 years with their loving wives.  In 2020 we celebrated 60 wonderful years.   God has richly blessed us!

In Romans 3:23 Paul writes, ‘for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’,  and I am no exception. I take comfort from John 3:16 which I memorized as a youngster in Summer Bible School, ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.’  For my baptism,  Rev Friesen gave me the verse from John 14:2 where Jesus says, ‘In my Father’s house are many rooms;  if it were not so, I would have told you.  I am going there to prepare a place for you.’  I, a sinner cleansed by Jesus’ blood,  now reside in God’s heavenly home amongst loved ones who have gone before.  I have prayed that family, friends and neighbours still residing on this planet will choose Jesus as their personal Saviour, so we can once more fellowship together in God’s heavenly Kingdom.

Arthur was predeceased by:

his father, Nick Hoock in 1978

his mother, Helen Friesen Hoock in 2004

his brother, Henry Hoock in 2006

He is survived by:  his wife of nearly 61 years, Victoria (Warkentin) Hoock

Family:

Ronald and Linda (Schmidt) Hoock

Bonnie (Hoock) and Karl Luhmert

River Luhmert

Colin and Francesca (Winger) Hoock

Steven and Valerie (Klassen) Hoock

Joshua and Amy (Fedrau) Hoock

Zackariah Hoock

Caleb Hoock

Mya Hoock

Ava Hoock

Adam Hoock

Elizabeth Hoock

Sisters:              Alice and Gordon Schindel

Nancy Hoock