I was in Katherine's Grade 2 class in Black Creek, BC so many years ago. About 25 years ago I learned that she was living in Abbotsford so we reconnected with each other. Whenever my husband and I traveled west to see my extended family, we would try to meet with her for coffee or lunch, which we did for the last time this March. Her life radiated her love for the Lord and she was such a blessing and encouragement to others.  I will miss her lovely handwritten letters.  To the family of Katherine, I pray that you will sense God's comfort and strength in the days ahead.  A familiar hymn reminds us:  "Because He lives I can face tomorrow, because He lives all fear is gone; Because I know He holds the future, and life is worth the living just because He lives!"

I am Byron.  My mom is Lee.
Grandma loved to cook and feed people.  Her childhood experiences through the depression taught her not to waste food and to be generous with food.  Grandpa delighted in bringing his daily limit of salmon home from his many fishing trips and Grandma canned hundreds of cases of salmon all to be shared with appreciative friends.  She prided herself in being a good cook but could NEVER follow a recipe without adding secret ingredients.    In her lifetime she froze and jammed 100's of pounds of fruit Cherry platz (with the pits) was a surprise bite for many.  No serving of savory food was complete without the addition of ketchup or salsa.  She loved good food.  There was always lots of candy at her place, even when she came to visit our house she would start setting out candy dishes.  You can enjoy her favorite  dark chocolate  on the refreshment table.
Grandma was a professional in a time not many women worked outside the home.   She taught school at Black Creek Elementary School 26 years.  Grandma was very smart and had a hunger for knowledge.  She taught herself to play piano, loved to sing and was recycling way before it became popular. 
In 2013, at the request of her daughters, she moved to Terrace West in Menno Place.  Here she enjoyed the morning prayer group, Bible studies, German night and Christian fellowship with her lunch ladies  Anna, Nettie and Susan.  At the age of 93 her passing away was unexpected, but we praise God for her devotion to Him and the peace she now enjoys.
She was a loving, generous Grandma for all of us!  We miss her!

I am Janice Muir and my mother is Diane.

My Grandma had the gift of MERCY.  She believed in second chances and had such a compassionate, kind heart.
   
One of the many things we will miss was her devotion to intercessory prayer for each one of our family members.
The thread of Grandma’s life was her love of her Lord and Savior.  It was reflected in every conversation she shared.
  
She often spoke of how God’s Word became her anchor through life’s challenges:

- through the loneliness when she first left home as a young girl going to Normal School

- through her families hardships during the depression

- through the loss of her Dad 2 weeks before her wedding day

- through the challenges of caring for our Grandpa in his last years

- through the adjustment of moving to Independent Living; and especially through the loss of not driving her blue Volvo anymore. 



She was also very aware that she was starting to forget where she placed things and it was frustrating but she never lost her Faith in the Lord.

On the front of your bulletin you will find Isaiah 40:31 – this verse was her strength.

 ‘but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

They will run and not grow weary, 

They will walk and not be faint.



Janice Personal Note:



I never doubted that she loved me unconditionally.  She had become one of my dearest friends and I always left her feeling a bit better that when I got there.



She would end our visits saying “I’m glad I have you” and my reply would be “me too Grandma”. 



I have a lifetime of wonderful memories to fill my soul and not enough time to share them.


I am Darin and my mom is Diane.
Grandma and I have a career connection  I am also a school teacher.   Teaching, however, was not her chosen profession.  Grandma's dad decided in her young age that she and her older sister would become teachers .They followed his direction and were focused on post secondary  education very early.  Over the years it became her calling for life.  She was a lifelong learner and loved to teach and share what she learned.  She often went to her Compton's Encylopedia to check her facts on topics she chose for her students.  Her teaching spanned over 30 years.  She began teaching in a one room-multi age Saskatchewan school.      In Black Creek she taught primary aged students.   As an educator she was respected by her administrators not only for her teaching ability but also how she could manage the most rambunctious students, to get then engaged in the hard work of focused learning.  ALWAYS DO THE BEST YOU CAN   became a motto everyone learned.   She loved to read and it was her mission to pass that on to others.   At her retirement one of the speakers said Katherine could teach a rock to read.    That sounds like a miracle to me, but, with all her prayers that is not surprising.

My name is Brent.  My mom is Lee.
Grandma was born  KATHERINE HELEN REMPEL  on September 7th, 1921, in Nikolaipol, Ukraine.  She was the 3rd of 5 children.   Her family immigrated at age 4 in 1925 to Saskatchewan.  Her family joined many others who chose to leave their homeland to move to a foreign land where they could have religious freedom.
It was a huge adjustment for everyone through the depression years but they completely relied on the Lord's provision for each day to survive.  Their work ethic and devotion to God grounded grandma in a deep and trusting faith. 
Grandma and Grandpa were married in 1946 and moved to B.C. --- first to Yarrow, here in the Valley, then to Black Creek and eventually retiring in Saanichton on Vancouver Island.
In retirement grandpa and grandma enjoyed travels around the world with their favorites being IndIo, California and Waikiki.   After grandpa passed away in 1992, grandma moved to Abbotsford to be closer to family.   For the first time in her life she took up daily walking at 7 Oaks Mall.  Her walking accomplishments are forever etched in a 7 Oaks floor tile in front of Peoples Jewellers.  She walked 10,000 KM, the equivalent of walking from Abbotsford to Regina.
  Grandma and her younger sister, Annie, were two peas in a pod.  They travelled to Waikiki with their suitcases full of jams, dried fruits and reading materials for years.  Once back home they were on the hunt for the best places to pick raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, apples and sour cherries.  Then, of course, came all the fun of making jam and platz and sharing it with everyone else.   
 Grandma was a professional in a time not many women worked outside the home.   She taught school at Black Creek Elementary School 26 years.  Grandma was very smart and had a hunger for knowledge.  She taught herself to play piano, loved to sing and was recycling way before it became popular. 
In 2013, at the request of her daughters, she moved to Terrace West in Menno Place.  Here she enjoyed the morning prayer group, Bible studies, German night and Christian fellowship with her lunch ladies  Anna, Nettie and Susan.  At the age of 93 her passing away was unexpected, but we praise God for her devotion to Him and the peace she now enjoys.

OBITUARY

Katherine Helen Voth

7 September, 1921 – 17 May, 2015

Henderson's Fraser Valley Funeral Home

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