Otto SPIKA

SPIKA, Otto
Otto V. Spika, 86 years old of Calgary, Alberta, died on December 26, 2013. He was born in Vienna, Austria on January 2, 1927 to Julius and Berta Spika.
After WWII, he studied medicine at the University of Vienna and in 1953 immigrated to Canada. He wrote the Alberta medical exams and established his practice in Calgary's Marda Loop area on 33 Avenue S.W. where he served his patients for the next 40 years.
He met his first wife Inge in the elevator at the Holy Cross Hospital. They married in 1955, lived in the Killarney area and had three children, Eric, Vera, and Doris, who now all live in Vancouver. Inge and he parted in the late 1960's but he continued to be a very involved and caring father, exposing his children to many different activities, sports, hobbies, travel experiences, and intellectual pursuits.
In the early 1970's he moved to his current residence in Mount Royal with his second wife Trudy Mertl. She eventually moved to and continues to reside in Victoria, B.C.
In 1987, on a tour to Russia, Otto met Rosemary Turner who became his partner for the next 22 years until her death in 2009 at the age of 84. They lived an active life of traveling, visiting friends and family, and pursuing their various interests. They had fun.
Otto loved the outdoors, hiking, fishing, and touring in his Volkswagen van in Canada and the US, favoring places in Alberta and B.C. An excellent skier, Otto enjoyed the slopes well into his 70's. He was a voracious reader and every month or so sent his children "a bundle" of news clippings and special interest stories, with sections highlighted for fast reading. He studied everything - current events, culture, history, religion, geology, nature, science, technology, cooking, classical music, business and investment, to name a few. Learning how things were built was a passion of his and he often went to construction sites and talked to trades people about their work; for instance, he watched the demolition of his office block on 33 Avenue S.W. and followed the construction of the building that replaced it. A good cook, he enjoyed preparing full course meals, including his signature goulash dish, for friends and family.
He was a solid, down to earth, no fuss person, and a forever-curious voyager of this planet. His insatiable appetite to educate himself in just about anything along with his ability to retain and share his knowledge with others made him a highly interesting, thought provoking individual. His love of travel took him around the world from the museums of London to the jungles of Borneo. He enjoyed all peoples and cultures, their past and present civilizations, geography, and way of life. From Rococo and Baroque churches in Europe to Teepees and Powwows in Alberta that he was invited to by First Nations people, he was fascinated by and enjoyed it all.
He died in a house fire at his home on the morning of December 26, 2013. He incurred no injuries from the flames but succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning. He died peacefully and painlessly in hospital wearing his beloved teal green track suit. We will miss our father the rest of our lives.
He always spoke lovingly of his family in Vienna, including his niece Elizabeth, who predeceased him. In addition his children, he is survived by his sister and brother-in- law, Herta and Fritz Seehof; nephew, Stefan Seehof; and his second niece, Irma Jacob and her husband and son, Alfons and Maximilian.
Eric, Vera, and Doris Spika are very grateful to our lifetime friend, Iris Chomyn and many of Otto's friends, especially Liana Obuck for their support and help during this time.
On Saturday, January 11, 2014 at 1:30 p.m., there will be a Celebration of Life for his friends and former patients the Austrian Canadian Cultural Centre, 3112 - 11 Street N.E., Calgary. If you plan to attend please RSVP to OttoSpikaMemorial@outlook.com.
If you wish to make a donation, please send it to either the Heart & Stroke Foundation (for which Otto canvased) or the SOS Children's Fund of Canada. Either would put a smile on Otto's face.