Gerhard Wilfred Reimer

George was born on March 26, 1914, the seventh child of Abram and Maria (Froese) Reimer in the Mennonite village of Wiesenfeld which was founded in 1880 by his great grandfather Jacob D. Reimer in what is now the Ukraine. George’s forbears willed him a rich spiritual, intellectual and material history.

The mayhem of the 1917 Russian Revolution engulfed idyllic Wiesenfeld only three years after George’s birth. In 1919, at age 5, George witnessed the murder by terrorists of his grandfather Froese and Uncle Franz. Everyone fled Wiesenfeld . After arduous and dangerous wanderings the A. J. Reimer family sojourned in the village of Gnadenfeld in the Molotschna, where they survived the Great Famine. In 1924 the family emigrated to Canada - by train through Europe to Latvia. At Riga they embarked for England. From there they sailed across the Atlantic to Quebec City and from there they trained to Saskatchewan. Southeast of Humboldt they joined six other families in homesteading some rocky Saskatchewan fields in the Great Depression.

George’s schooling ended after six year. Hard physical work dominated his life. George began a relationship with the Savior in his teens, was baptized and remained a devout and faithful follower of Jesus throughout his long life. He modeled and lived his faith much more than he spoke of it.

George began courting Anne in Saskatchewan. However, they were separated when George’s family moved to BC in 1935, a year earlier than Anne’s . The two lovers were married in the Greendale MB Church on July 31, 1938. We celebrated their 70 wedding anniversary here in the same church in July 2008. Except for the first four years of their married life on Vancouver Island, and in Vancouver, George and Anne lived and raised their children Reg, Jerry and Joan here in Greendale. They were active members of this church from 1943 to 2005 when they moved to Menno Terrace in Abbotsford.

George Reimer was an exemplary husband, father, grandfather, uncle, and in-law, as well as a fine craftsman and farmer and a huge contributor to church and community. A “class act”, someone said. Honesty. generosity and faithfulness characterized George. He blessed us by staying with us a long time. In his waning time on this earth he often asked the question, “What is there for me to do?” His Lord will have a much better answer than we could muster!

On May 16 George suffered an incident Menno Pavilion which led to pneumonia. He was admitted to the Abbotsford

Hospital where, after 10 difficult days, he died peacefully on May 27, 2011.

** *

George was predeceased by his wife Anne on December 30, 2008. He is survived by three children. Reg (LaDonna). Jerry (Annelisa), and Joan (Clarence Neufeld), five grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and two step grandchildren.

Arrangements under the direction of Woodlawn Mt. Cheam Funeral Home, Chilliwack, BC.