January 24, 2025 

Gudrun passed away one month after Walter, her beloved husband of 64 years. She was grateful for having lived a full and happy life. 

Born as the second of four daughters, Gudrun’s early life was shaped by the tumult of World War II. She was raised on a farm which her father managed in Silesia (part of Germany at that time). Life changed quickly when the family was forced to flee their home as the Russian front advanced. She told stories of true hardship: gleaning scarce food from harvested fields, corrupt officials stealing valuables sewn into the seams of clothing, and wearing shoes made of whittled wood and potato sacks. 

The family eventually received a new parcel of land to farm in the newly partitioned East Germany and started over. Gudrun and her older sister, Ingrid, studied Rural Home Economics as they worked hard to help build their family’s new house, knocking the mortar off bricks salvaged from buildings bombed in nearby Magdeburg. Gudrun eventually left home to study to become an elementary teacher and taught for five years in the DDR. As the political environment changed, she made the decision to leave Germany and follow Ingrid to Canada. 

At a New Year’s party at her sister’s ranch near Williams Lake, B.C., she met Walter, and the couple married in 1960. Always energetic and frugal, Gudrun was an excellent household manager, creating stability and order wherever she went. From single-handedly digging out basements for their first two homes (one while pregnant!) to keeping difficult tenants in line, from organizing Brownie camps to planning the menu for a family-and-friends Bowron Lakes canoe expedition, Gudrun was up to the task. 

A caring person who took joy in making others happy, Gudrun thrived as a mother and homemaker. She provided delicious hot meals daily at the stroke of noon for over six decades! She loved growing flowers and met most of her family’s produce needs in her own vegetable garden. She knit socks and sweaters, sewed clothes, curtains and cushions, and served up an impressive number of Rouladen and Schnitzel. Her baking was legendary―her Streuselkuchen, butter tarts and Saure Sahne Kringl were favourites among family and friends. She was a persistent hostess: leaving her home without being stuffed was not an option. “Eat some more!” 

After their children left the house, Gudrun and Walter spent many years travelling the world and enjoying winters in warmer climates. Camping was a shared passion: they regularly headed out to various beloved lakes with the camper, canoe and ATV well into their 90s―always with a double deck of playing cards for Saskatchewan poker. 

Left to remember her marzipan chocolates and her “power hugs” are her sister Ute in Germany, daughters Claudia Holland (Jeff) and Gisela Ruckert (Carl Gagnier) and grandsons Andreas and Stefan Gagnier Ruckert, as well as many nieces and nephews on both sides of the Atlantic. 

You may offer a message of condolence at Cypress Funeral and Cremation Services for the Ruckert family.   

• Date : 2025-01-24
• Location : Kamloops