How Gideon met Renate

By Gideon Stuhler

It was November 1983. The weather was dreadful and so was my frame of mind.  I had met a young woman not long ago and thought that this could become a solid relationship, but she thought otherwise and ditched me.

One day while on a professional training day I received a message via my beeper and was asked to phone someone who was waiting in a public phone booth. We are talking about 1983 after all. A few hours later, I finally reached somebody. The mysterious caller was my friend Gabi, whom I met at Israeli boot camp in the IDF. It turned out that Gabi with his girlfriend were on their way home to Switzerland. They planned to stay a few days in Vancouver, not knowing that it was the Grey Cup weekend here in town, and there was not a free hotel room for them. He asked whether  they could stay with me.

They stayed for a few days and evidently noticed my sadness about the breakup. Before they left Gabi told me that the next time I would come to Europe, he would introduce me to someone.

In April 1984 on a sunny day Gabi came to visit me at my mothers’ home at Switzerland. He told me that he and his mother had a young lady in mind, but that I would have to travel to Munich in order to meet her. As I had only three days before my return flight to Vancouver, I was not sure how I could make that happen. “You’re  such a moron, - said my mother. Get yourself a plane ticket for a 24 hour stay in Munich”.

Boy, was she right! I went to Munich and Renate picked me up at the rapid transit station, complaining all the time that Munich is such a rural village. I thought that I ought to be cautious, as she probably wants to use me as a tool  in order to get to Canada. My  worries were unfounded. In the end we spent a nice time.

After my return to Vancouver we exchanged many letters and phone calls. Renate suggested a visit to Vancouver. In the end she came and we enjoyed each other's company. We went to San Francisco for a few days. By the time we retuned, we were madly in love. There were tears and promises that we would get together as soon as possible. Needless to say, that the love letters and phone calls became much more frequent. Finally, I went to Munich in spring of 1985 for a term at the Munich University. I stayed at Renate's parents' house where Renate had her own small apartment. We knew that we were meant for one another. After attending the Marriage Register’s Office SIX (!!!) times to get our paperwork, it at end, happened.

We got married on a very hot summer day and spent our honeymoon in  Italy. By October Renate joined me in Vancouver  as a “legally import”. We have been very happy ever since and raised two children.

P.S The 24 hour trip to Munich in April 1984 was one of the smartest things I ever did. What is left to do is repatriate our love letters which to this day remain bundled in a storage room in Munich.