In Memorium

Horst Hlawaty
3/27/1941 — 11/4/2017

Horst was born in Pabianice, Germany on March 27, 1941. The first years of his life were marked with lots of hardship and hunger; his father Josef was drafted in to the Volksstrum leaving him and his sister Lotte and mother and grandparents to flee the advancing Red Army. They were refugees for about two years as they made their way west, eventually settling in Essen, Germany. After several years, the family was reunited and Josef found work in a coal mine.

Horst excelled at school; he enjoyed swimming in the river and playing soccer in the streets of Essen. He was quite poor, and whenever a hog was butchered his father would inflate the bladder for the boys to use as a soccer ball. Horst’s mother Bertha died when he was 13, and at that time his adventurous father moved the family to the US, where they were sponsored by a German church in Elmira, New York. In 1955 they made the week-long journey across the Atlantic on board an enormous decommissioned naval vessel used for passengers.

Horst learned English quickly and enrolled at Elmira High. After graduation he joined the US Navy to fulfill his fantasy of seeing the world; he volunteered for the submarine service. He served two years in the Pacific Fleet, visiting Japan, Hong Kong, and Australia. After his discharge in 1961 he moved to Los Angeles to attend UCLA on the GI Bill.

Horst happily found a strong German-American community in Los Angeles; he would ride the street car to South LA where a theater showed German films, drank with his pals at the famous Red Lion tavern in Echo Park, and joined the soccer team at the Phoenix Club. Upon receiving his degree in engineering he went to work for the LA County road department as a civil engineer.

In 1974 he met my mother Jane, and soon they were married and living in Alhambra. In 1978 I was born, and shortly thereafter he accepted a job at the City of Newport Beach Public Works and we moved to Irvine. In 1981 my mom and I moved to Oregon and it was heartbreaking for him to have his son so far away. I know he looked forward to the summers, which I always spent with him.

Horst had many good friends and a lust for adventure. He traveled extensively in Europe, skied each winter up at Mammoth, climbed Mt. Whitney, tried to race a dirt bike across Mexico, and spent many summers camping and hiking in the Sierras. He always had a local watering hole where everybody knew his name.
In 1991 he was fortunate to meet Sybille, who would become his friend and companion for the next 25 years. They were a perfect match for each other, shared many good times with their many friends, and together they traveled the world. They visited Europe often, as well as a variety of other destinations such as Turkey, Spain, St. Lucia, and the Dominican Republic.

In 2000 Horst retired from the City and in 2006 he and Sibylle moved to Hernando, Florida to enjoy a quieter pace of life. As always, they made many friends and never lacked for a social engagement. Horst golfed almost every morning, and the couple spent afternoons enjoying a drink or snack at a riverside eatery, watching the wildlife or chatting with friends.

Horst delighted in his weekly Skype or phone call with his only grandchild, Josef. He had hoped to attend his 5th birthday in Oregon, but health concerns got in the way. He was admitted to the hospital in late October for a simple medical procedure, but a confluence of many other maladies conspired to weaken his system. I flew out to be with him on October 31, and even though he was by now heavily sedated, he knew that I was at his side. On November 4th at 12:10pm he passed away in complete peace with his wife and son holding him.