Bernhard August Bass passed away peacefully at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital on 29 July 2021, at the age of 86.
Married to his beloved bride Renate of 53 years, a wonderful father to five children, Esther, Karl, David, Andreas, and Susanna, Father-in -law to Ross, Katy, Lori and Andrew. Opa to ten grandchildren, William, James, Thomas, Chloe, Bethany, Anna, Jonah, Haleigh, Karl, and Samantha. Brother of Ruth, Herta, Paul, Wilma, Agnes, and Al.
A funeral service will be held at Olson Burke-Sullivan Funeral Home on August 2 at 10:00AM.

Bernhard was born October 9, 1934 in Tilizen, Lithuania a farming village where he grew up with his seven siblings.

The Bass family were trades people who had lived in Prussia since the time of Kaiser Fredrick the Great and the Empress Catherine the Great. In the late 1700’s, the family moved to Prussia in a trade agreement between Russia and Prussia. Four generations of trades’ people, the Bass men were carriage, wagon, and wheel makers, a trade highly sought after in frontier edges of these two mighty countries.

Following the outbreak of World War II, the family was divided, Bernhard’s father, August Bass went off to war and his mother, Anna Bass fled with their 7 children to avoid the oncoming Russian Front. From the open fields of Stollberg, he witnessed the bombing of Dresden. A picture forever etched in his young mind, the orange sky which was lit up for three long nights, the thundering bomber planes overhead, and the aftermath of absolute destruction.

After the war, his mother and seven children went back to Lithuania where the local Tumpas family took in the refugee family and gave them a home. Bernhard never forgot the generosity of his Lithuanian neighbours, who took the family in, fed them, and housed them

For the next ten years he worked as a farm hand, looking after farm animals and labouring on nearby farms to support the family. We fondly remember these stories as the Cabbage soup and Potato years.
Dad always reminded his children of his absolute poverty, eating nothing but cabbage and potatoes each time they grumbled about a meal.

When he turned 18, Bernhard was drafted into the Lithuanian Russian army. For three months he stayed in Estonia for basic training but was eventually sent home on account of his weak heart.

Through the efforts of his uncle Willie in Koln, and the Red Cross the Bass family was eventually reunited in Canada after 12 years behind the Iron Curtain. It took ten days to cross the Atlantic to Halifax, the cost was 200 Canadian dollars.

Bernhard was proudly confirmed, along with his sisters at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Hamilton. He continued to attend St. John’s and gave a weekly sum of 25 cents from his weekly wages to help build the church comprised of mainly German post war refugees.

Bernhard met his future bride, Renate through his sister Agnes. They dated for a while but then mom asked him to move to Chicago, a move that gave him the jitters. They broke up for a while but one day Dad drove to Chicago in his red Mustang, with no shoes and the canvas top down. They were married on June 1, 1968.

Six months later, Bernhard gained US citizenship, but yet deep in his heart the “alte Heimat” always remained. For the rest of his life he always enjoyed eating smoked ham and brown bread with cabbage.

Bernhard and Renate made their first home on Luna Ave in Chicago and the house was soon completed with five children. He worked hard in construction and in his later years he installed kitchens. He was very proud of his kitchens and on the weekend, he would take his children sightseeing to show them what he was working on. Every morning he would wake up at 5:30am to get ready for work, he quietly ate breakfast, filled a large Thermos bottle with hot coffee and said his devotions before heading off to work.
Always the hard worker, Bernhard was a sensible man when it came to money his favourite phrase was “save your pennies, you don’t know when you’ll need them” He encouraged all of us to get a higher education, so in his words we wouldn’t have to work as hard as he did!

Throughout his life, Bernhard was a devoted member of his church serving as treasurer in the German Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church, Chicago and also as usher at the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Oak Park. In his retirement he took up reading, where he enjoyed everything from religion and history to National Geographic.

Bernhard was a peace loving man, never one to get into serious arguments. He had a mild, easy going manner and a sharp sense of humor. His motto in life was “lass alles gut sein” (Let everything be alright) and “alles mit der Ruhe” (all things with peace).
He was also a big fan of classical music. He always had a radio on wherever he worked or drove, it was normally tuned to WFTM 98.7 Chicago’s classical station.

The Bass family would like to thank the nurses and other caregivers of Advocate Lutheran General Hospital and Hospice Care for their compassionate and loving care. We also thank Heinz and Lola and Sonia and Joe for their love and support during the final weeks of Bernhard’s life.

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in honor of Bernhard to The American Heart Association.