"If I were young again, I would do it the same way again." Katharina Huber often said this phrase when she looked back at her life.
Steinach - She had grown up in a host family, had married into an inn and was in her element as an innkeeper until old age. There is now a painful gap in the Landhotel Gasthof Huber in Steinach. Katharina Huber died at the age of 81.
It came from the neighboring town of Hausen near Hofhegnenberg, less than three kilometers from Steinach. In May 1938, she was the third of four children to be born in a farm with an inn and went to school after school to become a cooker. That's what a budding cook was called at the time.
After working in Bad Wörishofen, Sonthofen and Mering, she returned home and met Franz Huber, whom she married in 1959. She didn't mind that her husband was 14 years older. "But he also looked good and young," says son Karl Huber and smiles. He is the middle of the three Huber children and is now the third generation to run the inn, which also has many regular guests from Brucker Land. The company, which was once a stage coach station, has been family-owned since 1914.
Working from morning to night seven days a week - that was normal for Katharina Huber. In the early days, she was solely responsible for the kitchen, bar and service, and later kitchen aids and waitresses were discontinued. There was no day off until the 1970s. The boss was the first in the morning and the last in the evening. Her employees respected her because she did not order anyone from above, but toiled like everyone else.
The guests loved her because she was open to everyone. Communication with visitors from outside the world worked with hands and feet - Katharina Huber always knew quickly what she could do to someone, even without knowledge of foreign languages.
Her three children grew up carefree in the inn, just like they once did. "We had a carefree childhood," says Karl Huber. "It was nice that our parents were always there, even if they had to work a lot."
In 2014, just in the 100th anniversary year of the family business, Katharina Huber had an accident from which she should not recover completely. She stumbled over the proverbial carpet edge and sustained a head injury. As a result, their strength waned. Nevertheless, the triple grandmother did not allow herself to go to church regularly. The service was important to her - especially since, in her many years as an innkeeper, she rarely had time for church on Sunday morning. Even the evening before her death, she was still wheelchair-driven to Mass.
Katharina Huber also always enjoyed celebrating, small and large celebrations such as the golden wedding with her husband, who had since passed away in 2009. And whoever celebrated the last New Year's Eve in the Huber inn, saw them sitting happily and contented among the guests and enjoying the festive menu, that her son had cooked. She couldn't hold out until midnight. Nearly.