There are few people in the South Cariboo today who haven't been touched by the hard work of Ulrike 'Ulli' Vogler.
Originally from Germany, Ulli made the South Cariboo her home for 40 years, throwing all her considerable energy into whatever job, personal project or volunteer group she had on the go. Her husband for those 40 years, Peter Vogler, remembers her as an incredible chef, a tireless volunteer and a people person.
"She always had a positive outlook and tried to be an example of that," Volger said. "I always wondered how she did it."
Born in West Germany in 1961, Ulli grew up by the Elbe River, near the border of East Germany, where her parents had a restaurant together and she helped her mom out, Vogler said. After her parents split up, Ulli moved to Hamburg with her mother, where she spent her teenage years before her mother and stepdad decided to immigrate to Canada. Ulli chose to follow them and, in 1985, got a job working for Stefan Witmer, who ran the restaurant at what is now the Spruce Hills Resort.
It was in May of 1985 when Vogler first met Ulli while on vacation in Canada. Vogler, a carpenter and construction worker, was taking time off work to visit the Ten-ee-ah Lodge on Spout Lake. While there, he happened to run into Ulli, recalling with a smile that she had brought two cases of Greek white wine and the two of them shared a drink.
Over the next six weeks, Ulli and Vogler, then in their early 20s, got to know each other and later fell in love. Vogler recalled he even had to take an extra week of vacation to figure out their new relationship, but ultimately, when he returned to Switzerland, Ulli soon followed.
"She was fun-loving, uncomplicated and just a good soul. A person you could steal horses with," Vogler recalled with a smile.
The two built a life for themselves in Switzerland over the next year, with Vogler recalling with a laugh that they got married in their dog kennel. The two shared a lifelong love for huskies and owned up to 40 dogs at one point.
However, when an opportunity arose to run the Ten-ee-ah Lodge in 1986, the two decided to take a chance and immigrate back to Canada and see how things went for three years.
"Ulli was incredibly hardworking. She would cook for 30 people, serve them, clean cabins, do the books and do laundry. At first it was a two-person show and then we got some help, but even if guests arrived at 11 p.m., they would always have a meal," Vogler recalled.
In 1990, the two of them built a new lodge on the property and celebrated the 10th anniversary of running the lodge with an art show in 1996. Around the late 1990s, Vogler said she started an arts scholarship for local Peter Skene Ogden Secondary School students.
During their time at the lodge, Vogler said Ulli began volunteering each year to cook the meals for the Great Cariboo Ride, organized by the Great Cariboo Ride Society. Vogler remarked Ulli described it as her "holiday" when they would go out and cook meals for 70 to 100 equestrians in the boonies.
After around 12 years of running Ten-ee-ah Lodge, Vogler said he and Ulli decided it was time to move on and found a property on Lac La Hache to settle down on, which Ulli loved. A lifelong gardener, Ulli would go on to plant two large gardens, with Vogler later building her a greenhouse so she could start the growing season early.
Around this time, Ulli started teaching with the College of the Cariboo, which has since been rolled into Thompson Rivers University. Vogler said Ulli would go out to the Tsq̓éscen̓ First Nation to teach life skills and cooking, and later got a job working for Horton Ventures Inc. There, he said that she focused on teaching unemployed people and connecting them with potential employers.
"She had so many successful stories and there are still some of them who have stayed on those jobs for 15, 20 years," Vogler recalled.
Ulli also helped revive the annual Jack Gawthorn Memorial Sled Dog Race in 2008 after the original organizers left the community. Vogler said they did it together with Pat Corbett, then the owner of Spuce Hills Resort, Len Docuette and Dan Jackson. While running the event, Vogler said Ulli became more involved with the 108 Heritage Site, becoming its president for 12 years in a row starting in 2010.
"She took that on with a great passion there, organizing the Canada Day event, markets, dog sled races and whatever kind of events they did there," Vogler said. "She brought a strong group of people together. She signed up everyone she knew, basically, at the heritage site."
Ultimately, the only thing that slowed Ulli down was a stage four cancer diagnosis in 2022. Even then, Vogler said Ulli kept on doing the things she loved, handing over the presidency of the 108 Heritage Site to a successor, baking food and making jam for the Heritage Market every week and tending to her gardens. She kept her sickness private, disclosed only to those who knew her best.
"The inner circle knew she had cancer. The last thing she wanted was to feel sorry about it. She kept quiet about it and stayed positive until the end," Vogler said.
Ulli passed away on June 6, 2025, leaving a hole in the hearts of those who loved her and the community she had become a pillar of. During a celebration of life held at the 108 Heritage Site on June 10, hundreds of friends came out to pay their respects and share memories of the impact she'd had on her life. To honour Vogler permanently, the 100 Mile and District Historical Society, who run the site, have plans to create a new garden in her memory planted underneath her favourite tree.
As for Vogler, he said he is doing his best to care for her gardens on their Lac La Hache property. He told the simplymastery he misses her around every corner of their home, but he hopes the community will remember her for years to come.
"She's a person we can look up to. Everyone should implement some of her life in their lives. Not putting yourself first, but the community first," Vogler remarked. "Remember her the way she was."
