With his expertise, the garden specialist of the settlers’ association was known far beyond the borders of Upper Austria and was a great role model for gardeners.
Originally, gardening was not the great passion of the native of Linz, but the fire brigade. When Helmut Stundner was born in 1932, his father was already a member of the ÖBB fire brigade. “My father was born with the need to help others,” says his son Wolfgang.
As a former motor vehicle apprentice at ÖBB, he was offered the position of train attendant in 1951 – this was the start of his railway career, which he pursued for 36 years of service. Helmut Stundner was always supported by his wife Hermine, with whom he had already danced at the Hornberger dance school in Linz and with whom he was able to look back on 60 years of happy marriage.
In addition to his work as a railway worker, he was fascinated by nature, the gardens and the care of trees, which is why he worked actively in the Weber tree nursery in 1971. “From that point on, my father began to devote himself to the garden excessively,” his son recalls. From 1965 he was involved in the settlers’ association. “It was often a test of patience for the whole family,” says his son Wolfgang. After starting his early railway pension, Stundner also passed the gardening consultant exam
His library full of gardening books grew steadily, Helmut Stundner held more than 2000 lectures for the settlers’ association on the subject of grafting trees and diversity of species. “My father spent so much time in Upper Austria’s gardens – sometimes for days – but my mother had to lend a hand in his own garden,” says Wolfgang Stundner.
Helmut Stundner grafted many thousands of trees and thus left a growing memory. He died on April 16 at the age of 91. The farewell will take place on Friday, May 6, in the cemetery church in Lambach.
Source: Nachrichten
