Carl KOENIG

A self-described tent maker, Carl Koenig was a father, husband, successful entrepreneur, and a do-it-yourself engineer who had a life-long passion for building, repairing, inventing, and tinkering. A man with a curious imagination and mischievous sense of humour, Carl loved family. He enjoyed his close group of friends and lively, laughter-filled conversation around the dinner table. He was fascinated by history (and antiques), all things mechanical, and he had a passion for acquiring new knowledge. Carl passed away quietly on July 19, 2021, at Nithview Community, New Hamburg at 82 years of age. Born in Potshausen, Germany to the late Adolf and Katharina (Mohlmann) Koenig, he was the beloved husband of Joan (Maude) Koenig whom he married on August 31, 1962. Loving father of Mark Koenig, Lee Koenig (Wendy Knepper), Chris Koenig-Woodyard (Adrienne) and Jacqueline Klee. Loving and supportive grandfather of four grandchildren: Andrea (deceased), Amanda, Owen, and Matthew. Carl is survived by two sisters Cory Gesterling and Beate Williamson. Carl had a DIY spirit, atireless work ethic, and a playful sense of humour. At 16, he left Germany for Canada, the country he came to love. In his early 20s, he started an industrial canvas and sewing firm, which he ran for over 45 years, in New Hamburg. Carl was passionate about sewing (and sewing machines), a skill he acquired in the family sewing business in Germany, which dated to the 1930s. In his late 70s, Carl wrote a private memoir that captures this work ethic and sense of humour, and how occasionally the two entwined. In the memoir Carl describes that he was sewing in the family business by age 12 and recounts that "one of dad's buddies would often come over and sit on my worktable. He wore a long over coat (like Colombo) which was in my way, so one day I took the tail of his coat and double stitched it to the cow blanket I was working on and left the shop." Carl concludes the story with a single sentence that captures his personality: "Fun is where you find it." In the 1980's, Carl began collecting antique sewing machines and over the next 30 years amassed one of the largest private collections in the world, with over 350 machines that he repaired and restored as required. In 1992, he opened the collection to the public with the founding of the "Sew it Was" museum in his country home outside New Hamburg. His tour of the collection included a detailed history of the sewing machine that revealed his curious, wide-ranging love of technology, history, and craftsmanship. He would touch on the mechanical, social, political, and economic history of sewing and sewing machines, delivering a kind of cultural history that he constantly expanded as he continued researching and reading. Carl's love of sewing and its history was fueled by his life-long love of learning: when he came to Canada at age 16 and began working, he saved money and purchased a set of encyclopedias, which he read in its entirety. At age 67, he became a first-time computer user, and his early efforts to email with family and conduct internet research soon expanded to buying, selling, and trading antique sewing machines internationally. Carl's do-it-yourself spirit grew out of a love of engineering and mechanics that he developed in his childhood. In his memoir, he writes that around age 10 "I learned to ride a bike and the next thing was to have my own bike. I would collect scrap metal left over from the war and trade it in for bike parts and after a year I built a bike that I could ride but it looked old and used. It had to be painted but you could not buy any paint. We could buy black powder paint and mix it with a special oil which I did. After a long drying time, I had a new bike." Carl was scrappy (literally), resourceful, and inventive. He repurposed and recycled, and if a tool didn't exist that he needed for a specific home construction project or a contract in his business, he could be found in his workshop welding, hammering, and inventing it. Another story in his memoir portrays this resourcefulness. He describes his family's early years in Canada when they moved from Saskatchewan to Kitchener, Ontario: "In northern Ontario we broke down. The metal tongue of the trailer that connects to our car broke. We had brought lots of tools from Germany, so we went into the bush and cut down a tree suitable for a trailer tongue. We tied it in place with rope and we were on the road again." This creativity and ingenuity as a craftsman touched every facet of his life and business: he built his own factory in New Hamburg and his own house in the country, and he was just as happy sitting at a sewing table as he was with a hammer in hand. He built his own recreational vehicle which served as the rolling home for the Koenig family for numerous road trips across Canada and the United States (and travelling was a passion of Carl's as well: he and Joan travelled extensively around Europe). At Carl's request, cremation has taken place, and the family is holding a private funeral ceremony. In lieu of flowers and as expressions of sympathy, donations would be accepted to the Autism Society or Ontario and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario. Personal condolences and donation information available at www.markjutzifuneralhomes.ca