My Little Henny- A Message of Love from Veronika and Pat Leliever

I always called her my Little Henny, as Hungarians frequently use the diminutive form for people they love. We loved her for the genuine, loyal and true Friend that she was to Pat, myself and our Christian and will always do so.

Tennis brought us together at the Don Mills Tennis Club circa 35 years ago, but the relationship that was to span a lifetime, was further strengthened by sharing in same values of deep love and dedication to our families, Little Henny to her boys, and I to my Little Man: Christian. We also shared in our love of nature: flowers, birds and animals. Our boys grew up together, and our families shared quality times together off the tennis courts, sharing in backyard BBQs, swimming, sometimes elegant dining, visiting craft shows, or swooning over orchid exhibits.

We loved the Scherer dinners, preceded by Henny asking Christian what he wanted her to prepare and it was always her special Dutch treats, followed by chocolate oreo/raspberry pie, Henny’s signature dessert. As true Europeans, we shared our love of delicious pastries “mitt schlag” of course, accompanied by Henny’s superb cups of coffee. And her Christmas cookies enhanced the holiday season ever so much more, shaped like tennis racquets to remind us of our beloved sport. They were wonderful times……..

Henny was forever feeding and finding lost cats, and we were forever rescuing lost dogs. Then, one day a beautiful cat found us in our backyard, and Henny adopted “Fluffy”. Indeed as Christian mentioned in his remembrances, we will never forget Henny’s calling “FLUFFY………” in a voice with a special lilt, dedicated to kitties only. We have fond memories of her loving our Macko, a little Lhasa Apso, who for years reciprocated in kind with plenty of demands for Henny’s attention and her cookies!

We continuously delighted in our backyard birds and enjoyed many little nesting broods tucked under the eaves of the Scherer home by their back deck which was built so lovingly by Robert. Where else could we go to participate in midnight feedings of peanut butter sandwiches to a family of raccoons: Mom and dad and some 6 babies, but to Henny and Karl’s backyard?

Following our relocation to Connecticut, we saw each other less, but the bond was never broken and in between visits, we spent many hours (generally late in the evenings due to both of us being night-people) on the phone. We all enjoyed Karl and Henny’s visits to our home and spent many joyous days discovering places new and quaint on the North Shore of Long Island Sound.

Our lives had been filled with friendship, much love and we were once again blessed by a special gift of visiting Henny at the hospital only two weeks ago, having the opportunity to share our optimism of her recovery, however arduous and painstaking it might be, embracing and visiting her again a day later.

Little did we know that shortly it was time for her to move on to a much better place, where she is no longer distressed or in pain, where she is whole and can receive us when we too will follow when God takes us. We regret not being able to attend the services at St. Bonaventure, but treasure our great fortunate of having spent time with her alive, smiling and chatting.

We cherish our wonderful memories of you and are blessed to have had the privilege of your friendship for so many years and yet it’s been way too short! We loved you Little Henny and will always do so.

Missing you greatly, Veronika and Pat Leliever