Josef Alois Ehrler

Celebrating Life

Josef A. Ehrler, 87, of Joseph, passed away on Sunday, November 12, 2023 at Wallowa Memorial Hospital. A Service will be held at St. Katherine Catholic Church in Enterprise, OR, on Saturday, November 25, 2023 at 10:00am PST, and a lunch/memorial will be held afterwards at 11am at the hall next door. Casual dress is preferred by the family.

Josef “Joe” Alois Ehrler was born in Schwyz, Switzerland on May 26, 1936. His parents were Katarina Betschart Ehrler and Alois Ehrler. He grew up in Switzerland. Josef graduated from High School in 1952 at age 16 and started his 4-year apprenticeship in the electrical field. When he received his license, he worked as an electrician near St. Moritz and Geneva. He spent his weekends mountain climbing in the summer and ski mountaineering in the winter, which he loved so much. Most of his free time was spent in the alps of Switzerland, France and Italy, including two 7 day ski expeditions from hut to hut from Geneva to France to Italy. In 1960, Josef was looking for more adventures and moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He got a job as an electrician on a 730 foot freighter, on the Great Lakes, for three summers, spending the winters as a ski instructor in Jay Peak, Vermont, where he built a chalet.

In 1963, he met Rita Czepiela at the Jay Peak Ski Area in Vermont. She shared her sandwich with him because he forgot to bring lunch and he knew he had found a good one. They were married May 9, 1964 in Montreal, Canada and flew to Germany where they purchased an old Volkswagen van. They drove to Switzerland and visited with his parents, older brother Alfred and his wife Martha, his sister Lisbeth and younger brother Ernst. They drove to Geneva and found jobs for the summer. In the fall, they booked passage on a freighter and sailed from Rotterdam to New York, bringing their van with them. Joe and Rita spent the winter in their chalet at Jay Peak and taught skiing at the Jay Peak Ski Area. After an extremely cold winter with minimal snow, they decided to move west. Their dream was to open a ski shop somewhere in the west.

They loaded all their belongings in a van and, after seven days, arrived in Portland, Oregon. Uncle Joe and Agnes Ehrler invited them to stay with them until they found work. Shortly after Joe and Agnes told them they were all invited to go to Joseph for the 4th of July week-end and to visit their cousins Aggie and Lawrence Immoos who built the Laundromat in Joseph. While picnicking at Wallowa Lake, Aggie told them about a rundown business called Matterhorn Cabins, which had been on the market for two years with no takers. Joe and Rita went to the main office there and were told to talk to Keith Wilson, who was the District Attorney at that time. He recommended they contact Charlote Walton near Grants Pass. Joe and Rita met with Mrs. Walton and signed an agreement with her. They both worked two jobs each for four years to save enough money to move to Wallowa Lake to take over the Matterhorn Cabins.

Their son, Kurt Andrew was born March 4, 1968. A year later, they moved to Wallowa Lake and changed the name to Matterhorn Swiss Village. They built a small gift shop and remodeled five cabins. Their son Peter Thomas was born in 1970 and daughter Heidi Marie was born in 1973. Joe became a member of the Rotary Club of Wallowa County, the Joseph School Board and St. Katherine’s Church in Enterprise. A larger addition to their store was built in 1975. They added skis and accessories and opened The Sports Outlet in Enterprise in 1980.

Both Kurt and Heidi helped in the family businesses and were encouraged to explore the world through exchange programs or finding work abroad. Joe and Rita hosted six exchange students at their home. The Ehrler family traveled all over the U.S.A., Canada, Europe and many other countries in Asia and South America. Joe and Rita sold their Matterhorn Swiss Village property and business in the spring of 1993 and they moved to Joseph to a home with a beautiful view of the mountains. Joe remodeled the house to have a second story. Joe and Rita visited Heidi in Sayulita, Mexico in 1996, where she was living, and they fell in love with Sayulita and started spending their winters there in a cute RV park every year until they finally sold their trailer there last Christmas.

In the 1980s Joe discovered white water rafting and became an avid whitewater rafter with his own raft and setup, sometimes taking multiple trips a year and included two trips down the Colorado. He was teaching Kurt the ropes over the last decade and they went almost annually. At the age of 85, on his last trip, he finally let Kurt man the oars for the big rapids on the Snake River. Prior to that, he had Kurt row the easy parts but insisted he do the hard stuff. Joe loved skiing from when he was a very young child and was still making two week annual ski trips to Colorado in his 80’s. Joe thanked God every day for all the blessings he and his family received since they came to Wallowa County.

Heidi and Kurt both attribute their wanderlust, grit and entrepreneurial nature to the examples Joe had shown them. After graduating from Portland State University in the 90s, Heidi opened her own store at Wallowa Lake and later added another store in Joseph. Kurt married Marcea Wiggins in July 2009. Their twins Chesley & Idella were born in November 2013.

Joe is survived by his wife Rita, his daughter Heidi and his sons, Peter and Kurt (Marcea), Kurt’s children Chesley & Idella; brothers, Alfred & Ernst, and sister Lisbeth.

Contributions may be made in the memory of Josef “Joe” Ehrler to the Wallowa Memorial Hospital, 601 Medical Parkway, Enterprise, Oregon 97828.

Kurt will try to set up a Zoom conference of the service and memorial lunch for friends and relatives from afar if they want to be there virtually and possibly say some words. Reach out to Kurt via Facebook for more details. Obituary courtesy of Loveland Funeral Chapel.

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