Obituary of Dagmar Veronika Chimko

Veronika Chimko died peacefully, surrounded by family on June 29, 2025, at the Dunrovin Park Lodge in Quesnel. She was 71. 

Dagmar Veronika Beck was born born July 2, 1953, in Wuppertal, Germany, to Werner and Hildegard, and welcomed by her older brother, Detlef. Werner immigrated to Kitimat, B.C. in 1954 to take a job at the new Alcan aluminum smelter, followed seven months later by Hilde and the two kids. 

In Kitimat, newly carved out of the wilderness, Veronika developed what was to become a deep, life-long love of nature. She built tree forts in the gully behind Grouse Street; joined the Brownies, and completed numerous paint-by-number pictures of horses, dreaming of the day—not far off, as it turned out—when she would own one she could ride.

Her self-described ‘tom-boyish’ tendencies did not prevent a maternal side from coming to the fore with the arrival of a baby brother. Nor did they prevent her from being a fashionable dresser in her teens or from being crowned Miss Kitimat in 1970.

A one-year stay with her Oma in Germany, when Veronika was only 12, foreshadowed the fierce independence that would become one of her hallmarks. 

She knew her own mind and charted her own course. That course, at one point, saw her living across from the Kitimat firehall, where volunteer Don Chimko caught her eye. 

They were married in 1977.  Many busy years followed for Veronika, as she raised three children and helped Don build a successful contracting business.

The travel-loving couple really got to spread their wings with Don’s retirement in 2004. Stops included Central America, England, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, otherwise dividing their time between their lakeside home in the Cariboo—where they tended a magnificent veggie garden—and their beloved ski-cabin at Hudson Bay Mountain. Both places were the centre of many festive gatherings, both for family—including nine grandchildren—and a great many friends.

Sadly, Veronika started showing symptoms of Alzheimer’s in her early 60’s. While she gradually lost her memory, she never lost her gift for witty one-liners.

Veronika is survived by husband, Don; children Daniel (Natalie), Bradley, and Jillian (Stacey); stepdaughter Shelley; grandchildren Aidan, Keira, and Damon; Maeli, Kinsley, twins Elouise and Esme; Durban and Magnus; and brothers Detlef & Dirk. 

Many thanks to the wonderful nursing staff at Dunrovin Park Lodge.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made to https://alzheimer.ca/bc/en

Thank you, 

The Chimko Family