Anne C. Johannes
(nee Schmidt)
1928-2023

Anne Johannes passed peacefully on July 25th, 2023, at Revera Bay Ridges Long Term Care Home in Pickering, Ontario, at the age of 94. She was predeceased by her spouse, Wolfgang, her husband for over 62 years. Anne was the matriarch of her family, as sister to her younger siblings: Gerhart, Gelinda and Horst, in Germany, her children: Peter, Mark and Richard, her grandchildren: Brendan, Kristen, Danielle, Andrew, Kyle and Benjamin, her great grandchildren: Brynlee and Ember Johannes. Anne also leaves behind her niece, Rita Horn and other relatives in Germany. Narrowly surviving the war years in Sudetenland and Germany, Anne developed exceptional skills as a seamstress and secretary. She was uncommonly beautiful, with full red hair, and turned the head of many young men. She met Wolfgang in Wolfsburg, Germany, where they both worked for Volkswagen. They were married in 1952 and shortly after, Wolfgang took a transfer with Volkswagen in Toronto and emigrated to Canada. Anne reluctantly followed and arrived in Montreal by ship on July 1st, 1954. With her superior English language skills and clerical abilities, Anne quickly found employment with Kuehne+Nagel, handling air travel and logistics between Germany and North America. Her new work life didn’t last long when her first child arriving less than two years later. In 1957, Anne, Wolfgang and family, embraced suburban life by moving to Ajax, Ontario, to spend the next 24 years, raising 3 boys, including spending many summers enjoying a very rough cottage they built on a lake in the Kawarthas. Anne was a nurturing mother and a fierce defender and supporter of everything her children did. She used her skills as a seamstress to craft clothes, costumes and exquisite gowns for friends and family. As her boys grew, she accepted a position as the secretary to the president of Bayly Engineering, a Canadian German electronics firm and proved to be a highly efficient and influential presence in the company. In 1981, as empty nesters, Anne and Wolfgang took up the farming life and moved to Owen Sound, Ontario, where Wolfgang had bought a 200 acre plot. Much like Eva Gabor in the Green Acres TV show, Anne didn’t embrace the rural lifestyle, living on a farm, and only agreed to move once they bought a waterfront home, much closer to town, to live in. Together, they enjoyed several tropical and European vacations and many relaxing days looking out over Georgian Bay. Sadly, in early 2015, Wolfgang passed away and Anne came to Pickering to be closer to her family. Unfortunately, her declining health kept her in long term care since then. A Celebration of Life will be held in the near future, as arrangements are made to bring her far flung family together.