Gymnastics was another of his great loves. In 1917, when he was 17, he joined the Embrach Gymnastics Club. The club meant a lot to him and quite early on he became its top gymnast.

In 1920, after a successful apprenticeship, Fritz completed his training as an engine fitter at Sulzer with distinction. The company recognised his talent and wanted him to undergo further training so that he could become a technician. They offered him a grant so that he could go to technical school. However, he turned them down. He valued his freedom and independence above everything else and feared the prospect of having to spend the rest of his life in debt to the company. He didn't want to feel obligated to anyone and, besides, he had plans of his own: he wanted to see something of the world and to spend some time abroad.

At this point, however, fate intervened. Within the space of one year both his brothers died, and the last thing his grief-stricken parents wanted was to let their only remaining son out of their sight. They certainly didn't want him to go abroad. His grieving mother begged him to stay at home and urged him to get engaged to his young girlfriend. She hoped that if Fritz were to marry he'd stay at home, and work was completed on the upper floor of the family house in Rosenweg so that it could be made ready for the young couple.

The girl in question was Ida Bachmann. She had grown up in the village of Embrach, and at primary school she'd been in the same class as Fritz. By the time they went to secondary school she was already his sweetheart and the friendship lasted throughout their youth.

Ida and Fritz used to meet every day on the train to Winterthur and they'd frequently pass the time playing cards. Ida's older sister, Elise, also worked in Winterthur, at that time at "Högglis", the knitting company. Both sisters were pretty, lively, cheerful girls with curly hair.

Fritz put his love for his parents before his own wishes, and in 1924 he and Ida married, making both their mothers very happy indeed. Things didn't turn out all that badly for the young couple, and soon they were celebrating the arrival of three daughters. First Trudi in 1925, then Lore in 1927 and finally Erika in 1930. Ironically, given his early reluctance, he remained at Sulzer until his retirement, working his way up from the shop floor to join the management with an office all to himself.

Theirs was clearly a loving family. The children enjoyed a happy childhood, and although they were not financially well off, they suffered no hardship. Whatever they needed was made, mended or grown, and for many years his daughters thought there was nothing their father could not do. He supported them throughout their childhood in achieving what they wanted, even when it meant having to find the means to support their ongoing studies. All three girls recognised the sacrifices their parents made for them and were unstintingly grateful.

Fritz and his father also got on well. Both men often worked together in the house, the garden or in the wood. Together they built the garden walls and the fences around the house. The former goat-shed became a workshop with a wood-turning lathe. The girls often watched their grandfather wood-turning and they would help him pedal - the lathe was operated by foot.

Fritz also developed quality relationships with his grandchildren. I was only 17 when my grandfather died, but I have extremely fond memories of him, from the times when he was fit and active as well as when he was ill. When I was young we'd occasionally go up into the Alps with him, staying at my aunty's chalet in Gadenstätt, and he'd take us walking in the mountains where we'd find wild strawberries and dare one another to touch the electric fences. Or we'd have picnics by a lake and swim in the ice-cold waters. We went up both the Rigi and the Pilatus with him, and he also took me walking with my Dad across the Diavalezza glacier in the Bernese Oberland. Back in Embrach we'd go walking on the Irchel and along the banks of the river Töss, where we might set up a primitive barbecue and grill sausages on the end of pointed sticks. Occasionally we'd go swimming in the Rhine - where the fast current made it really exciting to swim as you were dragged downstream unless you swan up against the flow. Even after his tracheostomy he was still able to join us on outings, joking that it was now much easier for him to breath at the higher altitudes.

At home he'd love to sing and show us his photos, telling us stories of all the mountains he'd climbed. And we could spend hours whiling away the time in his workshop watching him turn wood on his lathe. He never owned a car, but he used a little motor scooter to get around on and also rode a bicycle. In the garden he had a set of high parallel bars where he used to do gymnastic exercises, and we used to love it when he showed off his muscles to us puny youngsters. And in late summer we'd help him pick fruit from the garden (I specially remember apricots and red currants) and from the family orchard near the village. There we'd collect apples, cherries and plums, sometimes using a long tool to pluck the fruit from the higher branches. We'd carry the fruit home in a wooden cart and store it in the cellar. He used the apples to make apple juice and cider, and my grandmother would make the most delicious jams from the plums and the cherries.

Beyond the home and his family he continued his active participation in the gymnastics club. He used to tell how he led his team to a gymnastics competition without ever having taken part himself in such an event. They came away from it with an oak crown - which in those days was awarded as a booby prize - instead of the coveted crown of laurels which went to the winners. When their friends back in Embrach heard about the fiasco Ida and her sister mobilised their choir and a band and the oak-crowned gymnasts were met at the station with great joy and honour. Later on, however, Fritz was to go on to win many crowns of laurel with his gymnastic routines and gymnastics played a big part throughout his life. His daughters remember how on Sunday mornings he would take them down to the school playground where he and his men would practice and exercise.

An important event in the gymnastics calendar was the annual village "Chränzli", a social event, where Fritz not only led the gymnastics session, but also directed a drama, often taking part himself. The female roles were played by girls from the choir to which Ida, Elise and Fritz's sister, Anneli, belonged.

He went on to establish a gymnastics club for women and led that for many years. He also started a ladies' walking club, and as long as his health would allow it, he led that too.

During the War years he became a Church Elder, and at one stage he was elected to the position of Chief Elder. In 1951 the Association of Electricity Boards elected him onto its Board of Directors where, in 1958, he succeeded Hans Keller-Stalder as Actuary, a post which he held until 1971. After his retirement from Sulzer he spent a few years as a meter reader for the Electricity Boards.

Soon after his retirement he became ill with cancer of the throat. He had several operations and his health fluctuated, but eventually he had to have a tracheostomy and lost his voice. However, he dealt bravely with all these trials and setbacks and when he learned to speak again all the family were thrilled to be able to converse with him once more. Nevertheless, it was a great pity that such a lively, energetic and active man should be so weakened and damaged by illness. He remained courageous throughout and never once complained. He was no doubt greatly helped by his wife, who remained unwaveringly positive and optimistic. Somehow she too found strength and courage, and she was always at his side, ready to care tirelessly for his every need. Sadly, though, his illness got the better of him, and he spent the final two and a half weeks of his life in hospital. Despite all the efforts of the doctors and nurses, whose care of him was exemplary, his strength drained quite rapidly, but not before my mother was able to visit him. This clearly pleased him greatly and the two were able to share some final moments of quality time. His wife Ida and his sister Anna were lovingly by his bedside when he died.

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