Two men who died in an ice-fishing accident Feb. 4 at Grace Lake northwest of Agassiz have been identified online as brothers who ran a longtime landscaping company in Abbotsford.
Social media posts identify the victims of the drownings as Case and Erik Timmermans.
Case started Timmermans Landscaping and Tree Service in 1978, and was joined by Erik in 1981, according to the company’s website.
“The two were often seen together at community events and were known to share a strong bond,” states one post.
Another post – from Pacific Peak Homes – states that Case “dedicated his life to helping countless individuals and families build better lives.”
“If you had the privilege of knowing him, you were truly better for it.”
Erik was named in a news article in November 2021 after his home was impacted by the floods on Sumas Prairie in Abbotsford. The article said he and his family had lived there for almost 25 years, and had a small nursery on the property.
The Agassiz RCMP issued a press release on Feb. 5, saying they were notified at around 11:15 p.m. the previous day that two men who had been ice fishing at Grace Lake had failed to return home.
A family member went to the location and noticed a large hole in the ice along with fishing gear, police said.
Agassiz RCMP and search-and-rescue teams from Kent-Harrison, Mission and Chilliwack were deployed to the scene. The RCMP’s underwater recovery team recovered the two bodies in what police called a “challenging recovery operation.”
