Claus Werner Hinrichsen

Claus Werner Hinrichsen passed away Saturday February 21st, 2015 at Forsyth Medical Center. He was born March 17th, 1937 in Husum, Germany, to the late Claus Peter and Johanna Ohlsen Hinrichsen. He spent his early childhood in Preetz, Germany, where he experienced the pain and agony of WWII and was very lucky that he and his mother survived the country's devastation. He then attended grade school, upper school in Preetz, and later earned a degree in Engineering. He was raised in the Lutheran faith. In 1961, at the age of 24, Claus fulfilled his dream of coming to reside in the United States. He first lived and worked in New York City. In the early 1970's, Claus was one of the four founding partners of Gallos Plastics in Winston-Salem. He was very hands on in both the manufacturing and technical sides of the business and was later in charge of sales. He was responsible for the Winston-Salem operations as well as plants in Fort Worth, TX and Canada. One of his most memorable projects was designing the ""plastic egg"" for L'eggs Sheer Energy pantyhose. Claus was a hard worker and was very well liked and respected by both his peers and the many employees he supervised over the years. He was also involved in real estate development in both Winston-Salem and Kernersville and even drilled for oil in Texas. Following his retirement in 1995, Claus was an entrepreneur and loved to create useful products and he was always thinking of his next venture. On December 13th, 1987, he was married to Sandra D. Franklin, his dear ""Schatzi"". There were happily married for over 28 years and thoroughly enjoyed many years of world traveling to Germany, the beach, and his favorite Caribbean island, Aruba. Claus was a perfectionist by nature, very articulate, kind and caring. He had a great sense of humor and was always ready for a good joke and he loved to tease. He was predeceased by his parents, a baby brother and his stepfather, Harri Strecker, whom he loved as his real father and his mother and father-in-law, John and Minnie Franklin. Claus is survived by his loving wife, Sandy F. Hinrichsen, his half sister, Frauke Wiens (Loetta) of Norway, his step-sisters, Edith Bormann (Harri) of Kiel, Germany, and Gerda Toepffer of Reinbek, Germany; nephews Johannes Toepffer(Katrine), Torga Wiens(Donnie) of Germany and Andreas Toepffer of the Philippines and niece Iske Blok (Eric) of Germany. He is also survived by his brother & sister in law, Dennis and Sharon Franklin and special nephew Johnny Franklin (Karen) and their children Anna and Nick of TN., as well as many cousins and numerous friends. A memorial and celebration of life service will be held on Tuesday, March 17th, 2015 at 11:00am at the chapel at Hayworth Miller Funeral Home on Silas Creek Parkway with Deacon Brooks Johnson and Dustin Harrison officiating. The family will receive friends immediately following the service. Any memorial contributions may be made to the local American Heart Association. On line condolences may be made at www.hayworthmiller.com ""My Lieber Clausie, I will always love you and I miss you dearly. You were my ""best friend"" and a wonderful and loving husband. You were my everything and I was so lucky to have you in my life. Although I am heartbroken, you will live in my heart forever. All my love, your Schatzi""