Jun 05, 1942 - Sep 27, 2025

• Hans-Christian Ahrens (Chris) 

Hans-Christian Ahrens (Chris) 

Retired diplomat

June 5, 1942 – September 27, 2025 

   It is with great sadness that the family announces Chris’s passing from Alzheimer’s disease at St. Patrick’s Home in Ottawa on Saturday, September 27th.  Many thanks to St. Patrick’s staff for the exemplary care over the last two years.

  Chris was the son of the late Hakon Ahrens of Denmark and the late Marie Nikitin of Latvia.  In 1953, at the age of eleven, Chris came to Canada with his mother and settled in Winnipeg, Manitoba.  He continued with his early education, graduating from Daniel McIntyre Collegiate, where he won a top award in English, making his mother so proud!  After graduating from the University of Manitoba, he sat for and passed his exams to join External Affairs.

  He met the love of his life Grace Nelson at university in French class, where he did his homework on the back of a match book cover to Grace’s chagrin and got a higher mark than she did at the end of the course.  Their first date for coffee in the student union building      wasn’t very auspicious either. All was going well till Grace had to rush to class.  Before dashing off, Grace gathered up the debris on the table and dropped it into his full cup of coffee thinking it was empty.   And recycling was born!  Her final thoughts were that he would never call her again. He did and they married in 1965.  In 1967, they moved to Ottawa, where he began his career as a diplomat.  Their first daughter Monica was born in 1968 and their second daughter Roslyn followed in 1970.  

  With External Affairs, Chris and his family were first posted to Nigeria in 1969 and Finland in 1971 and then back to Canada.  In 1977, they were off to Sri Lanka and Australia, returning to Ottawa for good in 1982, where Chris continued his career, retiring in 1995. 

  While abroad, one thing Chris missed greatly was the Canadian wilderness, which he had fallen in love with as a boy and as a university student working for the Geological Survey of Canada in Northern Manitoba. His daughters recall his stories of being dropped by plane or CN rail in the bush or muskeg with a promise to return for him at a specific future time.  No personal phone. Just a compass! No contingency plan!  He loved the challenge of survival in the wild.  So, upon retirement, he began a new unpaid career as an outdoorsman, camping, fishing and hunting at his fishing camp at Turner’s Camp in Killaloe, Ontario near Algonquin Park.

  To anyone who met Chris, he was intelligent, articulate, quick-witted, funny, charming and sometimes silly!  Grace recalls after one of his pranks got out of hand, that when asked if he thought he was the center of the universe, he replied with aplomb that he had never looked at it that way before!  He really enjoyed having the last word!

He was an insatiable reader, and a lifelong student of history, political science and economics as evidenced by his massive book collection. He also had a taste for fine dining and wine.

   He lived his life to the fullest on his own terms, visiting far flung villages in Nigeria during the Civil War, climbing mountains in Norway, hunting in the jungle in Sri Lanka and bushwalking in Australia, etc., etc.  He was particularly proud of his Viking heritage, filling the house with books on Viking lore, making Danish open- face sandwiches and scaring the kids at Halloween in his Viking costume.

   Chris was predeceased by his parents Hakon and Marie Ahrens, his brother Axel, sister-in-law Kay Ahrens and brother-in-law Fred Bjerring.

   He will be mourned by his wife Grace; daughter Monica and grandchildren Owain and Anika Marsh; daughter Roslyn, son-in-law Jim Boukouris and grandchildren Zoë, Lena and Greg Boukouris; sister Astrid Bjerring and family in Ontario and B.C.  A special thanks to the Deacoves and Krupas, Tanya and Raphi, and Angele and Bob for their support.

As per Chris’s wishes, there will be no funeral.  Cremation has already taken place, and the family will hold a celebration of life at a later date.

No flowers please. Instead, if so desired, donations could be made in Chris’s name to St. Patrick’s Home in Ottawa.

Thanks to First Memorial Funeral Services for their gracious and professional services.