Anni Louise Sorensen (nee Moller) passed away Jan. 27, 2016 at age 90 after a long and interesting life that spanned WWII, a Great Depression, two continents and many generations. She was born in Aarhus, Denmark on November 22, 1925, the daughter of Valborg Johanne Kaimer, a domestic, and Alfred Fiedel, a merchant's son and then adopted by Vibeke Johanne Holmberg Moller and Soren Munk Folmer Moller. Moller, a department store owner, doted on his daughter, giving her the run of the toy department and taking her dockside to see ships bring in new merchandise. Anni delighted in telling how her father once bought her a monkey from one of the ships and how it ran amuck with Vibeke's millenary efforts. Moller died when Anni was a girl, but by her late teens, Anni had left home to work in a factory. She remained active in a swim club and through a local sports club dance, she met her first life partner Holger Rosenfeldt Sorensen, whom she married. They had two children: Ron and Jean. The family immigrated after WWII to B.C. arriving on Mayne Island to live with extended family before Holger, a journeyman goldsmith, found work on the Mainland. The family moved to Port Coquitlam in 1955, living on a five-acre hobby farm. Anni made the small house into a home, baked, tended garden, put down preserves and frozen goods to see the family through winter. Embedded in the Fraser Valley's Danish community, the family frequently entertained visitors and hosted smorgasbords that started at noon and carried on until midnight. Anni took another partner Chris Mide in the late 1960s and lived in Maple Ridge. Together they enjoyed travelled extensively, cruising on their boat, visiting the Mide family's Nimpo Lake lodge and entertaining friends and family at their home. It was during travels to Denmark that she was able to find her birth father and he visited her in Maple Ridge prior to his death. She kept a large vegetable and flower garden, grew amazing fuchsia hanging baskets that adorned the Mide River Road home, which sat on a large lawn overlooking the Fraser River. Her hands were always busy at the house. She and Chris both loved entertaining, planning special dinner occasions, serving up gourmet food on a beautiful table set with her Royal Copenhagen dishes crowned with a centrepiece she had created. Danish Christmas on Dec. 24 evening continued to be a special time for Anni, even more so with Chris and her own grandchildren arriving. She decorated the home and lobbied for a huge tree, appointed a Santa to ring the door bell and lug in mounds of presents, and she piled the evening's dining room table with food.
Upon Chris's death, she moved to Port Alberni, after a short stay in Texada at her summer home, to be close to son Ron and grandchildren, who would come to visit. She spent many years again enjoying her garden, doing large tapestry needlepoint that would take her close to a year to complete, making beautiful quilts, and venturing out to play bingo or to the casino. Her life was her home and she continued to cook for friends and family and received many compliments from neighbors and friends on her large vegetable garden. She enjoyed finding antique or collectibles in stores around town. While living in Port Alberni, she was also to locate several of her birth mother siblings and one of her joys was having a sister to talk to and she chatted often to her in Denmark.
She was always grateful for the support she received from two special friends in Port Alberni Linda Kelsall and Thereza Sperger, both who made mum's life easier in later years as they helped her stay at home. Anni is survived by daughter Jean (Vancouver) and son Ron (Port Alberni), granddaughter Stephani (and Jason) Dolynny (Victoria), and their children (great-grandsons) Preston and Declan Dolynny and Ron's son Jamie (Revelstoke). She is also survived by Holger's relatives in Denmark, members of the Fiedel family, sister Kaia (Jorn) Pedersen in Aarhus, Denmark, brother Carl Johan Jensen in Sweden. She remained in touch with the Mide family and often heard from Leo and Anne Mide and their daughters Susan Mide Kiss and Louise Mide.
A Celebration of Life and internment will be announced later. Anni loved animals and in lieu of flowers please donate to an animal shelter or refuge of your choice. Stories and condolences may be forwarded to the family by visiting www.yatesfuneral.ca