Dear Kristine and Nicolas and Christofer

It is with great sorrows, we got the  information about Hans’s departure 

It brought a lot of memories of Our time

Spent with Hans and Jette , so many happy Memories. 

Thinking of you all , we enjoyed meeting you all when we said goodbye to Jette in Nyborg .

Best whiches and  thoughts 

Bente and. Hans 

I’ve know Hans all my life. Hans and Jette were my parents closest friends. As my parents wrote, we travelled everywhere with the Marosfalvys, and have many happy memories. I’ve been remembering with my parents and brother some of these stories and want to share a few of my favorite.

Hans loved his German culture - it’s probably one of his many endearing qualities. We were fortunate to be the Marosfalvy’s travelling companions for 3 weeks around Germany. We saw many incredible sites and cities, but what truly made it special was all the family he introduced us to. One of the first stops after we arrived was to go for dinner at Großmutter and Tante Berta’s house in Reutlening. They treated us to German feast of sausages, pretzel bread, ham, cheese and crackers, as well as a delicious strawberry pie topped with whipped cream for dessert. All the kids got German chocolates as a treat (I’ve been re-reading my trip diary). We got to stay at Hans’ brother’s place (Roland and Renate) and we were treated to a performance of Der Vogelhändler, an open air operetta, one of the nights we were there…tying in Hans’ love of German music. After this trip, I started taking German in high school - I wanted to be able to better understand and communicate with Hans in his native language. It was fun to practice and see the delight on Hans’ face when I could successfully put sentences together.

German poppy seed roll, or Mohnstrudel is one of my favourites, which Hans introduced to us. I remember one lunch outside of the Meersburg castle where we all had cake - I had a massive piece of this delictible treat - sehr gut. When Hans and Jette came to stay with us in Stratford, I had a freshly baked poppyseed roll cooling on the counter when they arrived, which Hans proceeded to devour with great pleasure.

He loved his Ford Taurus - it was impeccably clean and had to remain that way always. I remember multiple camping trips - the Taurus had the air conditioning and the zephyr station wagon did not - so as a kid, we always preferred riding in the Taurus on the hot travel days. Another odd but favorite memory was his BBQ’d chicken. I don’t know what was so special and delicious about it, but I remember him hovering and fussing over the bbq to make sure it was just right, usually cooking it at the cottage in the dark. We couldn’t get enough of those delicious chicken legs.

He had his share of quirks and adventures - he was frugal, questioning or complaining about the cost of something, but was very generous and caring. I loved spending time at our cottage with him. Most of it was sailing, but there was the one time when our neighbour offered to take us out waterskiing. Hans tried it and did a perfect split as they accelerated. Full marks for effort, but what resulted was the prettiest purple, pink and blue bruise that carried up his entire leg. He was a trooper.

Having to say goodbye to both Jette and Hans just months apart has been so hard, as I’m sure many are feeling the same as I. So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye. Wir lieben dich, Hans. Du bist wirklich etwas Besonderes – einzigartig. Wir werden dich vermissen.

Heinrich & Fabienne Sinnreich

January 15, 2026

Hans and Jette Marosfalvy

We have met Hans and Jette shortly after our arrival in the US in the summer of 1981, having been introduced by Frank Goltermann from W.u.G in Germany. They have been among our closest friends since then. 

Hans and Henry had many professional interests in common besides our common German oriented culture from Europe, especially from the old Austrian-Hungarian empire. 

Our families, including our children enjoyed our parties where Hans produced records from his preferred German and yes, Russian music and Jette delighted us with her Scandinavian cooking of herrings and aquavit.

We admired Hans for his social contributions such as singing for prison inmates in Fort Worth. 

Hans and Jette shared with us their delight in watching on TV the festive Wiener Hofball, as they themselves enjoyed that beautiful and music by Johann Strauss and the waltzing.

Among our many discussions, comparing the US and Texas in later years were among the most interesting.

Hans and Jette remain with us forever in our hearts and minds as they were always with us.

We have so many memories of Hans and Jette that we almost do not know where to start.  We met Hans and Jette through the Whitby Badminton Club, long, long ago, perhaps in the late 1970s.  This was a friendship that grew and bloomed over 46 years, in spite of living as far apart as we did. We are Kristine’s godparents.  Our two families spent many vacations together - camping both in Canada and the U.S., trips to Florida, Chicago, to Germany and Denmark, in each other’s homes, and especially at our family cottage on Lake Koshlong in Haliburton where John and Hans honed their sailing skills and Sara and Jette kept the 4 children out of trouble and just enjoyed each other’s company.  After the children were independent, we continued to travel together on guided trips to various parts of the world.  Our last trip together was in 2019, travelling through the Norway fjords during the summer solstice.

Hans was proud of Germany.  He could be opinionated, but had the grace to admit he was wrong when needed. Hans had a good knowledge of global politics and shared his knowledge.  He liked flight simulators.

John and Hans learned to windsurf together and would have passionate discussions at the end of the day, with pen and paper, discussing how to point higher and to sail faster.  John was lighter and tended to sail faster.

Rest in peace dear, dear, Hans and Jette, until we meet again.

Hans, it seems like yesterday I met you in the living room of Kristine's apartment in college. You interrogated me to make sure I was good enough to be with your daughter.  And I must have passed your tests because ever since then you treated me like your own son. You even dragged me to Dillards to get fitted for my first suit so I could go out in the world and interview for jobs properly, I never forgot that, thank you. 

You can rest easy, I promise to take care of your daughter until the day I die. 

Thank you for everything.