Obituary of Eric Lopp

Eric Lopp 1929 - 2018 This image is from my father's hometown, Ketsch on the Rhine, Germany where he was born on September 4, 1929. This is the church where he was baptized. His parents Berthold Lopp and Martha Schreiner were both from this very town. Eric spent a happy childhood in his little home town along the Rhine River and near the beautiful historic city of Heidelberg in Germany. Here, with his parents and eleven other siblings, he survived the chaos of the Second World War. A mechanic by trade, he came to Canada in 1952, along with his brother Heinz at the age of 23. Here he sought adventure and fortune, to live a dream, as so many of us do at that age. He met his match in a young lady by the name of Rotraud Schmidhuber, whom he married on August 10, 1957 in Quebec City. Theirs would be a true love story that would last over 60 years. A honeymoon took them across Canada, eventually settling in a little town named Calomet, in the northern part of the Yukon. There Eric was employed by United Keno Silver Mines. In 1959, a stellar addition to the family, with the birth of his daughter Christine, followed by many happy hours spent with new found friends, many whom they met through their shared love for music. In 1965, as their daughter was now of school age, the family returned to Germany. Closer to family, they enjoyed five years in Munch, where Eric worked as an aircraft mechanic. The Call of the North would eventually pull them back to Canada, and in 1969 settled in Dawson Creek, as Eric was employed at the WC Bennett Dam at that time. The next 42 years would be spent building beautiful memories, again making new friends and sharing their love for music and theatre. The Dawson Creek Symphonette and Choir was a partnership between Rotraud, the musical director, and Eric the artist envisioning, designing, and building the theatrical sets for over thirty five Opera productions. Eric was a multi-talented artist in so many ways, possessing also a clear tenor voice. In 1983, he would star as the barber in Rossini's "Barber of Seville" to mention just one. He led a full and happy life, completely devoted to the happiness of his wife and family in every way. The last five years were spent near his beloved grandchildren, daughter, and son-in-law, who moved heaven and earth to make this happen. Plagued by pain and illness towards the end, Eric finally found peace on January 9, 2018 at the Rockyview Hospital in Calgary. A memorial service will be held on Wednesday, January 17, 2018 at 1PM at the Eden Brook Funeral Home in Calgary, Alberta. Service 1:00 pm Wednesday, January 17, 2018 Eden Brook Funeral Home CALGARY, Alberta, Canada