Manfred Dietrich

There is no death - Only a change of Worlds ~Chief Seattle

My heart is heavy as the heavens gained an unbridled soul. My Dad traveled over the rainbow into better pastures riding horses and playing his music after struggling from two strokes and Parkinson's.
He passed on at home in Nuremberg, Germany, in private with my Mom being at his bedside until he took his last breath on Earth.

Dad was born June 3, 1940, in Kitzingen, Germany. A child born into a war-torn world, he faced rubble and devastation at the age of five. Yet, he was a man who would always pull himself up, dreaming big, and living free.

Not many men can say they accomplished everything they sought in life, but he did. A butcher by trade, a culinary chef by nature, and a musician by heart and soul, he had his own band before I was born and continued to entertain until 2010, when he retired. He was an avid outdoor photographer, horseman, and loved the western lifestyle as much as his home county in Germany, Franconia.

When my sister and I grew up, my parents didn’t have much, but they managed to bring us up in a world of wonders, taking us everywhere they went. We saw Italy, Sicily, Yugoslavia, and Greece at great extent, because of his love of scuba diving and adventure.

He taught us independence and being tenacious, because that is who he was.

He taught us to aim high, because he wouldn’t have it any other way.

He taught us unconditional love through life experiences.

He had a sense of humor, peculiar to some, hilarious to us.

He bought me my first motorcycle at 16, and trailered home the first horse I owned at 18.

He was everything he wanted to be, and more.

He loved this country, the United States of America, with his heart and soul. John Wayne was his cowboy idol, and Johnny Cash filled his music and ambitions.

When I left Germany in 1983 immigrating to the US, Mom told me many years later that even though his heart ached when I left, I gave him a gift that he never thought possible; I gave him America. Since 1989, Mom and Dad visited 14 times staying with us three months at a time or more. He was so adventurous that he and Mom took off in their minivan exploring the West many times.

He had the utmost respect for our First Nations, especially Chief Joseph, reading and learning about their culture and plight. He visited Tamkaliks in 2006.

When Mutti and Papa first visited Highview Angus Ranch in 2010, Jeff and his family knowingly or not, gave him another gift he sought out so much. He experienced firsthand what it meant to be a real “cowboy”. To Jeff’s parents, he was always [their] “Wallowa County Cowboy”.

His presence can be felt everywhere at the ranch, in the house, in the outdoors, and in my heart and soul. I have his last pair of cowboy boots, his favorite cowboy hat, one of his guitars and professional keyboards, and so many other keepsakes that were important for me to hold on to. His voice shall never be forgotten through the music he recorded, and his insane sense of humor is embedded in hundreds of videos I took throughout the years.

I will continue to look to the heavens, thanking my Creator for having had an amazing Dad for one day shy of 59 years who gave his all - to his family and himself.