Gerhard “Gerry” Otto was born out of wedlock to Katherine Herer and Alexander Pacmor, May 21, 1941, in Stuttgart Germany during the chaos of World War II. It was, undoubtedly, a difficult time and a difficult set of circumstance. Being a war child, Gerry’s infant and toddler years were unstable; filled with uncertainty, time spent in an orphanage, betrayal, imprisonment for listening to American radio broadcasts, and loss. After his birth father died at a young age, the war ended and Katherine married Leopold Slavik things settled for Gerry. Leopold was a good father to Gerry and so his life became a daily, stable, routine of family, friends and schooling. He had two younger sisters, Annie and Karen, and a younger brother, Johanne, to watch over, tease, and play with.
From May 1, 1955 to the 31st of October 1958, Gerry was under the tutelage of Master Mechanist Karl Friz in the Fellbach school. To be finished school with a trade would serve Gerry well in the years to come. However, in that moment, Gerry once again experienced disappointment. He desperately wanted to work on the trains but was rejected. If not that, he also had his heart set on being a book binder. This too he was rejected at as his hands were too sweaty to work with the print materials.
Not wanting to be drafted, as all young men were at that time, Gerry turned his face towards emigration and applied for his passport in 1960. He was described as having no distinct features, an oval face, brown hair, brown eyes and 5’7”. He was listed as a lathe operator and as destined for Toronto, Canada. On July 4, 1960 Gerry landed in Le Havre, Quebec aboard the S.S. Homeric.
Only nineteen-twenty years old and alone, Gerry must have felt an array of emotions – fear perhaps, apprehension maybe, excitement definitely. He settled in Toronto and began working his trade as a gear cutter/machinist. Answering, or responding to, a newspaper advertisement Gerry travelled to Kitchener to meet a young woman. Just in case she was ugly, Gerry’s friend went with him. Anneliese Wiebe must have passed the good looking test as they were married May 30, 1964 at a Mennonite Brethren Church in Kitchener. Their witnesses were Anneliese’s two brothers, Peter and Henry. Anneliese’s parents, Peter and Anna, had a large family and they welcomed Gerry in as one of their own. Gerry was no longer alone! (Although, he did have a cousin, Ruth, living in Mississauga.) Gerry’s Certificate of Citizenship is dated 19 December 1967, Canada’s Centennial year.
The two young folk established their first home on Kent Street in the Little Italy area of Toronto where Bob was born in 1968. The young family then moved to Hazelglen Drive in Kitchener where Rick was born. Having moved to the Kitchener area in order for the kids to be schooled there, Gerry was literally struck dumb when he learned that they were about to have twins. You see, apparently Anneliese was having trouble with stomach ulcers. Yet, as it ended up they were not ulcers at all, they were two little bundles of joys by the name of Diane and John. They were born in 1980. All the children attended A R Kaufman Public and KCI (Kitchener Collegiate Institute) schools. Gerry meanwhile was the foreman in a machine shop, Electro Porcelain Limited.
In time, Gerry was tired of working in a place where he was surrounded by the same four walls every day, and he needed to make a life change. So he became a truck driver in 1985 and did long hauls for Erb Transport. His favourite destination was California as he loved driving through the mountains. Throughout all of his kids’ childhood, Gerry and his family vacationed on the other coast – Florida. Gerry loved the season of summer as he loved the heat and hated the cold and snow. Often they would go down to Daytona Beach and as he and Anneliese started to age they loved to stay at the Aqua Terrace Motel and Tropics Sun Tower in Ormond Beach, Florida.
Gerry loved his man cave back home in Kitchener and he would quickly escape into it upon arriving home. There he meticulously taped and labelled his 1,000 plus movies – documentaries, westerns, Steven Segal, Clint Eastwood and Charles Bronson. Alongside Gerry’s many VHS’s he also had his HO scale train track set up. Gerry loved his trains, especially steam locomotives. His trains snaked their way through prairie and mountain throughout his man cave, in and amongst Gerry’s stereo and many, many music albums. Gerry had an eclectic taste in music, loving the German Composers (Beethoven, Bach and Mozart (although he was technically Austrian)), German yodeling, vintage country, club music and, believe it or not, techno music.
When Gerry wasn’t spending time in Florida, visiting Mickey Mouse, or in his man cave in Kitchener, he was out lane bowling, winning a few trophies in his league. He taught his kids well as they all like 10 pin blowing as opposed to 5 pin bowling.
Sadly, and unexpectedly, Gerry had his first heart attack at the age of fifty-two in 1994. Luckily, Diane was present and was able to call for help. It was after this life-altering event that Gerry stopped smoking – cold turkey. In 2004 Anneliese and Gerry moved up to Chesley to be nearer to Diane and her family, and to escape the hustle and bustle of a large and growing city. At first they lived on 2nd Avenue and then 3rd Avenue. In 2007 Gerry was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and with dementia in 2010. A few days before Gerry was to leave for Rick’s wedding in Cuba in 2007, he suffered another heart attack and was sadly not able to go. In 2011 Anneliese was in the hospital for a year and it quickly became evident that Gerry could not be on his own. He first moved to Durham where he lived for six months and then moved to Parkview Manor in Chesley, where he has lived ever since.
Gerry loved his mashed potatoes and even asked for them while seated in Mexican restaurants! Bacon and eggs were also favourites and, of course, Gerry would request them even while seated in Japanese restaurants! (Too, too funny!) Liver and onions were preferences and he loved to BBQ pork chops! And potato chips. Gerry loved his potato chips! All the way down to Florida Gerry would eat – chips, beef jerky, sausage….
Watching TV was only for keeping on the real, true, WWF wrestling. Gerry was convinced that WWF was not a performance and was not contrived in any way, shape, or form. (Hee, hee). Once the expansion happened in the Canadian Hockey League, Gerry had a hard time keeping track of all the new teams and his interest in hockey quickly declined. He was not much of a reader, preferring to watch movies and listen to music.
Not only was Gerry fearless (sometimes to his detriment), he was physically and emotionally strong, smart as a whip, stubborn, and short tempered, yet with a big heart and an unwavering devotion to his family. He had a good sense of humour, always with the little zings, that if you were not paying attention you would miss! His best piece of advice was that no matter how you feel about a person, you never, ever, call them names. In addition, he schooled his family to just live your life – don’t worry about things – enjoy it! He also taught the fine art of negotiation.
Released from his earthly tethers, Gerhard “Gerry” Otto Slavic of Chesley, formerly of Kitchener, passed away peacefully at Parkview Manor, Chesley on Thursday, October 27, 2016 in his 76th year.
Loving husband of Anneliese. Cherished father of Bob Slavic of Delhi, Rick (Shannon) Slavik of Kitchener, Diane (Darryl) Bolton of Ripley and John (Brittany) Slavik of Chesley and grandfather of Lahaina, Brennan, Heidi, Tyanna, Jack and Harley. Gerry will be fondly remembered by his sisters, Annie Yandle and Karen Zimmer, both of Germany. He was predeceased by his younger brother Johanne.
Visitation will held at Rhody Family Funeral Home, Chesley on Thursday, November 3, 2016 from 12 noon until the time of the funeral service at 1 p.m. Interment in Chesley Cemetery.
Memorial donations to the Canadian Diabetes Association or Parkinson Canada would be appreciated as expressions of sympathy.
