Life-long friends Dean and Brenda Baumeister, Doug and Shelley Gallinger, Cameron Martin and Heather Popkes, Duane Jaschke, and Irma Baumeister joined forces at the Fort St. John Hospital Foundation’s Be an Angel Gala in November, securing the winning bid for the “I Remember Quilt.”
Bidding $21,000, they dedicated the quilt to the memory of Hubert Baumeister. It’s the third time they’ve teamed up to achieve such a feat, rallying together in 2021 to recognize Vance Dancy, Brenda Baumeister’s dad, on the quilt. In 2022, they won the bid to memorialize Roxanne Jaschke, Duane Jaschke’s wife.
“We’ve had three significant losses in our group of family and friends over the years, starting with Vance. Roxanne left us far too young in life, followed by Hubert,” shared Brenda in a foundation press release.
It was important for us to see Roxanne’s name embroidered into the quilt, memorialized between Vance and Hubert, who she identified as her adoptive dads, and both saw her as their own daughter. Our group of friends are not only close with each other, but also with our families,” she added.
The quilt is up for bid every year at the gala, with the winning bidder or collective bidders, receiving the honour of having their chosen loved one’s name sewn into the quilt. Over the years, the quilt has raised over $90,000, and is displayed at the hospital, outside the foundation’s office.
Hubert was born in Germany in 1939, but moved to Canada with his wife, Irma, in 1966, and settled in Fort St. John in 1968. Hubert was a successful business owner, bricklayer, who also owned a motel, farmed, and operated logging trucks.
But he’s best remembered as “a father, friend, mentor, a gentleman who put others first loved to travel and give the best hugs,” explained the press release, and is now honoured through the quilt.
The Fort St. John Hospital Foundation, a non-profit organization created 1994, has raised over $20 million to purchase medical equipment for the Fort St. John Hospital and Peace Villa Residential Care Facility, in addition to securing $4.5 million in endowment funds.
