Tribute

Our Father, Rudy Ketler, passed away on Aug 2nd, 2024. Rudy (Dad & Opi), was born on January 7th, 1935, to Katharina Janzen in Kronswiede, Ukraine. He was the eldest of seven children. Towards the end of World War II, the family travelled by foot and buggy to Poland, then to Germany. After two years in Germany, at the end of the war, the family took an MCC ship to Paraguay. Our dad was now 13 years old. This is where he met his love of his life, Ira Neufeld. They married in 1958. After a couple of years, along with their daughter, they moved to Canada, and in the next nine years, they grew to a family of six—three daughters and a son: Blondine, Ingried, Rosie, and Tony. When they arrived in Canada, our father worked in the hop and berry fields and the logging industry. Then he built railway tracks for over 20 years. After retiring, he volunteered for MCC Garden Park as a cook and the MCC festival, making borscht, for many years. Later, he was the custodian at Eben Ezer Church. Rudy/Dad/Opi loved music, fishing, and mostly making people laugh. He will be dearly missed by all who knew him. He leaves behind his wife, Ira, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and brothers and sisters.