Hans Berls was born in Bremen, Germany and immigrated to Canada after the Second World War. He landed in Montreal, worked on farms, and moved to Kitchener, Ontario where he met Marianne Kuerzel whom he married on December 5, 1953. Hans and Marianne lived in Calgary for a number of years and then in the sixties moved to Texas and Mississippi with his young family where Hans did contract work. Finally they moved to Salmon Arm in 1969, taking up residence on ten acres in Sunnybrae. Hans was a masonry contractor for many years known for quality brick and concrete work. He built a great number of the early concrete-block buildings in Salmon Arm.
Hans was a charter member of the Shuswap Amateur Radio Club which was formed in 1977 and was also a charter member of the Salmon Arm Seniors Amateur Radio Club which was founded with aid of a New Horizons grant in 1989. He was the trustee of the seniors repeater VE7RSA currently in a Kault HIll location. He had extensive experience in CW during the years it took him to make the required number of CW contacts before being allowed to use SSB.
Hans was a former CB operator with a special interest in emergency communications. Later as a ham he was involved in public service activities such as helping to marshall parades for a number of years with NORAC in Vernon. He was a central figure in a great number of the Field Days held in the area, and through his association with the Sunnybrae Community Hall was a central figure in the many Shuswap Mini-Hamfests.
He was a particularly gifted wood worker, making a great number of cedar chests, many of which were donated as Hamfest Prizes or gifts to the church for their raffles. Other projects included spectacular bird houses, planters, decorative tile trivets, and so forth.
He was a resourceful person who tackled the most challenging tasks, even if he had never worked in that particular area before, and he was always willing to help his acquaintances with their building projects, while often refusing the help of others in his own home projects when he could really have used it.
He is survived by Marianne, his wife of 62 years, daughter Marion Berls, son Hans {Maureen}, son Glen, and grandchildren Jesse, Courtney, and Brodi.
A Memorial Tea was held at the Mountainside Room at Bowers Funeral Home on December 19th following his burial at the Tappen Cemetery.