Hans Geprags

Hans was born on March 15, 1928 and raised in the small farming town of Boettingen, Germany. Here he discovered his talent and passion for music by later teaching himself the trumpet, accordion, harmonica and eventually the piano. As a young man, being propelled by his enthusiasm for music, Hans instrumentally led the formation of the town’s first Musikkapelle (Oompa band) after which the band then regularly performed. Hans also enjoyed the outdoors and often took pleasure in cross-country skiing throughout the German countryside. Scholastically, Hans excelled in math and decided to pursue his ambitions with a formal Engineering education, the first in his family. Soon around this time, Hans met his wife Margarethe, and they were married on the beautiful, freshly snow covered day of January 3, 1953. Hans and Margarethe later courageously immigrated to the United States in 1953, earned their U.S. citizenship and resided in New York from 1953 to 1960. They then moved to Bridgewater, NJ where they raised their family and spent the majority of their time. Hans worked as an accomplished Civil Engineer at Gibbs and Hill in Manhattan, NY for the majority of his career until retirement. Two significant accomplished NYC projects, which he led, were on the development of both Roosevelt Island and Battery Park City.

Hans had a love for German culture and was an active member of the Cannstatter Volksfest Verein as well as a choir member with the Schwaebischer Saengerbund of New Jersey. Hans also loved to garden and spending time with his family brought him incredible joy. Hans and Margarethe relocated in 2017 to Flower Mound,Texas to be near their children and grandchildren. Hans is survived by his wife Margarethe, his children Astrid (Josh) Bottum and Hans Roland (Kimberly) Geprags along with his four grandchildren Sydney Bottum, Blake Bottum, Evan Geprags and Katrina Geprags.