Eduards Didrichsons

DIDRICHSONS - Eduards Didrichsons was born in Liepaja in July of 1916, during the tumult of WWI in Latvia, then part of czarist Russia, the third of six children of Fricis and Lavize Didrichsons. His early years were spent in Durbe living on a subsistence farm carved from a baronage estate broken up after Latvia's independence from Russia. At age 13 he went to work in Liepaja and also became a surrogate father to his younger siblings. By the time of the Russian occupation of Latvia in 1939 he was a machinist at the Tosmare shipyard in Liepaja and owned one of the few motorcycles in the city. In 1940 he married Marija Ozolins and continued to work at Tosmare, then run by the Russian navy. In late June 1941 the German army occupied Latvia as part of its surprise invasion of Russia. From records abandoned by the fleeing Russians he learned that he and other Latvians working at Tosmare who had been marked for the mass deportation to the Russian gulags that had taken place earlier in the month had been reprieved only due to the immediate needs of the Russian navy. He continued to work at Tosmare, now run by the German occupiers, thus undoubtedly avoiding the fate of his 16 year old brother who was drafted into the German army. In October 1944, with the Russian army surrounding Liepaja and Courland and knowing what his fate would be under Russian rule again, he fled with his wife and mother-in-law by sea to war torn Germany. During the winter of 1944-45 he found work in Germany but twice the trio had to flee on foot westward ahead of the advancing Russian army. After the war they found themselves in the Russian zone of partitioned Germany and again fled west to Bavaria where they lived in a UN displaced persons camp. In November 1949 the trio and a number of other Latvians were sponsored as immigrants to America by a Mississippi cotton plantation. Eduards operated a cotton gin and repaired machinery there while Marija actually picked cotton. They stayed no longer than necessary to repay their obligations to the sponsor and in 1950, like many other Latvians, came to Michigan which they heard was in climate much like Latvia. Eduards worked at a number of tool and die shops in the Grand Rapids area becoming respected as a skilled machinist, tool and die maker, and die machinery repairman. He was one of the first Latvians to buy a new house in Grand Rapids and often was asked by others to assist them with his mechanical skills. As a hobby he rebuilt several old motorcycles and was an active motorcyclist and downhill skier well into his 70's. On May 24, 2009 Eduards passed away peacefully at Trillium Woods hospice at the age of 92. He said that he had not planned on living so long as to outlive his wife, siblings, friends, and dog. He left behind children, Juris (Dorothy), Peter (Nancy), and Rita Didrichsons. Also surviving are grandchildren, Eduards (Kimberly) Didrichsons, Emilija Welsh, and Andrea Didrichsons, and great grandchildren, Rylee and Chase Didrichsons. Per his wishes the family will hold a private memorial and disperse his ashes where those of Marija, his wife of 62 years who passed away in 2002, were dispersed. All will miss him as they miss Marija.