Trautmann loses, ‘honest and straightforward’ husband Kalle
KALLE Trautmann, who died on October 2 at the age of 84, “was my best friend”, said his artist wife Heidi Trautmann — “always honest and straightforward, and so loyal. I could always trust him to tell the truth”.
Kalle loved the sea, its power and beauty, and its challenges, and applied his expertise as a navigator to his entire life, plotting courses and planning projects.
He and Heidi came to Cyprus in 1999 on their boat, Early Bird, which they had designed and built and on which they had been living for six years, sailing around the Mediterranean and using the winters to travel the US’s west coast and Mexico in a mobile home.
When the couple arrived in Cyprus, they fell in love with the island and decided to put down roots, designing a hillside house overlooking the sea, creating a garden and planting a vineyard from which they made their own wine.
When Heidi held a regular Thursday morning drawing group at the house, Kalle used the opportunity to explore the island’s hidden delights; obscure villages, historical places, churches and above all, restaurants.
When the garden became too much to look after, they moved to a flat in Girne where Kalle continued to create projects. For him, anything was still possible, and he was most excited about his recent plan which was a cruise from northern Germany through the north Atlantic to New York, stopping all the way.
He was an unswerving friend, generous with his time, and once committed, he would never disappoint. He supported Heidi in her work with the island’s artists.
The same generosity manifested itself towards their children from their previous marriages, whom he and Heidi chose to embrace as their own.
His final trip, from which he returned in late September, was a family reunion with his siblings, during which they visited all the special places of their youth, in East Germany and in Poland, which brought back many wonderful memories.
Kalle died as he would have wished, asleep with his beloved Heidi at his side, having dined with her fellow artists in İstanbul where they were to hold an exhibition.
It was an evening among friends, friends who were participators, doers in life, as he most certainly was.