John Wiebe

November 27, 1940 – March 20, 2014

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of John Wiebe on March 20, 2014 at St. Boniface Hospital with his wife Carol at his side. He is also survived by his son Jason, his wife Susan and their son Ryan; his daughter Sandee, her husband Jeff and their sons Stephen and Brad; and his son Chris and his wife Coral.

A private funeral for family and friends has been held. Additional information can be found at www.greenacresfuneralhome.com.

GREEN ACRES

Funeral Home and Cemetery

(204) 222-3241

Condolences may be sent to

www.greenacresfuneralhome.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PREAMBLE

Exactly 2 weeks ago this morning I received a phone call from Carol. She was at the St. Boniface Cardiac Care unit. John had been admitted the previous evening and the doctors told Carol to get the family together as soon as possible as John’s condition was critical and the prognosis was not favorable. Sandee and Chris had spent the night with Carol supporting her as only they are able to do. Meanwhile, Jason was informed of John’s condition and was busy making travel arrangements from his home in Ireland so as to see his father for the last time.

My wife Audrey & I, as well as John’s youngest brother Abe visited John that fateful Monday morning two weeks ago. We found John to be totally lucid, completely aware of his critical condition and the direness of the situation. While we were there, John & Abe were able to converse heart to heart and I heard Abe tell John “I love you brother” before leaving. Because of this strong tie between the 2 brothers, Abe was asked to deliver the eulogy for John. Circumstances didn’t permit Abe to be here in person today, but he is here in heart and in spirit. The following is the eulogy that Abe wrote and that I was asked to read to you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JOHN WIEBE’S EULOGY

We are gathered here in respect and celebration of the life of John Wiebe, as a husband, father, friend and brother.

John was born in Neuendorf, Ukraine in 1940 being the 3rd born son of Peter and Margaret Wiebe. A year later they moved to Germany.

John’s early years… of going through the war as a child and living on someone else’s farm… could not have been easy… but they helped make him the man he became.

John didn’t talk much about the early days, but I do remember our mother telling some stories, like them running and hiding in the bushes with Dad and the 3 boys Pete, Jake and John… while soldiers shot at them. She told me how John and my other 2 older brothers were tied to her when boarding a train in Germany…so Mom wouldn’t lose them in the commotion. Mom described how little they had when they immigrated to Canada. They slept in the barn on loose straw and used the farmers’ flour bags for their pillow slips.

John was 8 yrs old, when the family immigrated to Canada and lived on a farm in Greenland, Manitoba.

Life wasn’t easy for John as a youngster, but his early life experiences had a bearing on what would become most important to him in his life and that was responsibility, hard work and family. Having gone through some difficult times, I think John became more determined to make life easier for his wife and children, which he successfully did.

In 1952 the family moved to North Kildonan. From an early age, John loved sports. He started delivering papers and setting up pins at a bowling alley so he could afford to participate in a range of sports activities. He played hockey, baseball, lacrosse, soccer, bowling and billiards.

At age 16, John left school and took a job at Hurtig Furs. He started stretching pelts and moved on to sewing coats. Wanting more, John quit his job to apprentice as a bricklayer at MIT and graduated at Red River Community College.

John met Carol at a dance and they became good friends. On their first real date, John came to pick up Carol in a purple 49 Ford with 2 Whip aerials and Hollywood mufflers crackling all the way down the street. Her prim and proper parents were very impressed.

Their first date was on Carol’s 16th birthday and when he found out it was her birthday, he ran out to his car and came back with a black diamond and gold necklace and earrings. Anyone who knows Carol knows of her love for jewellery. It was that moment that she decided she was going to marry John and 3 ½ years later in 1964 they were married.

About 2 yrs after they were married, John started his own bricklaying company. In 1967 Jason was born and in September, they moved into the house John built on McIvor Avenue. Sandee was born in 1969 and Chris, their third and final child was born in 1974.

John’s family was always his first priority and greatest joy in life. In 1975 John built a cottage at Winnipegow, where the family spent many years swimming, waterskiing and fishing.

John’s love of sports continued throughout his life. He loved waterskiing, fishing and hunting, and he continued to play hockey until he was 48, when he injured his knee. John loved spending time with his children and teaching them waterskiing, soccer, baseball, skating and fishing. No matter how tired John was, he always had time to spend with his children.

In 1977, John built their home on Dunning in East St. Paul. Cats, dogs and then horses became a part of their daily life. One day John went to a horse auction and came home with a horse so he built a stall in the back shop. Before long he bought a pony for the kids. It wasn’t long after he found himself building a barn and soon all four stalls were full of horses.

Then the horse shows started. John bought a tape and trained his horse to run barrels and poles. The kids started taking riding lessons. After working all day, John would come home and work with the kids and their horses. He taught his children strong work ethics, responsibility and a love for animals.

In 1992 John and Carol went to Arizona for the first time. In 1993 they decided to sell the cottage and buy an RV to go to Arizona. John loved hiking in the mountains and they continued to winter in Arizona for the next 20 years.

In the year 2000, John was thrilled to become a grandpa twice. He loved to spend time with his three grandchildren. First came Stephen (Sandee & Jeff’s eldest son), then came Ryan (Jason & Susan’s son) a month later. Last came Brad (Sandee & Jeff’s second son) in 2004.

John cherished the opportunities he had to skate with Jason and Ryan when they visited them in Toronto. He was thrilled to watch Ryan play soccer or baseball and also loved playing ball with him.

He enjoyed teaching Stephen & Brad to skate. He loved to watch both brothers play soccer and race their go-karts. He cherished the memory of taking Stephen fishing at Falcon Lake in the summer and watching Brad play hockey in the winter and hiking with the boys in Arizona.

Chris and Coral have carried on his tradition of enjoying the outdoors and John enjoyed hearing about their adventures as they went hiking and kayaking.

In 2005, John & Carol decided to sell their house on Dunning and buy a condo in Dugald, which allowed them to winter in Arizona, with less responsibilities.

In 2010, they decided to buy a park model in Apache Junction, where John got very involved in park activities. He enjoyed hiking, shuffleboard and playing billiards on three leagues. I remember the last year Terry and I visited John and Carol in Arizona and how happy he was to introduce us to some of his billiard friends. Little did I know that would be the last year I’d see John in Arizona.

Unfortunately in 2012 John was diagnosed with a serious heart problem and this ended his trips to Arizona.

Throughout John’s life, he worked hard building his business and providing for his wife and children. He ensured that Jason, Sandee and Chris were given a good education and the support they needed to achieve their goals. John loved and was very proud of his three children and his three grandchildren and all of their accomplishments. John believed in and tried to live by what is known as the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” John taught his family by example to live what he believed were the important principles of life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Epilogue

John passed away at St. Boniface Hospital on Thursday, Mar. 20 at approximately 5:00 A.M. while being held in the arms of his beloved wife Carol. Sadly, they didn’t quite make their 50th wedding anniversary which is coming up on May 30th this year.

I first met this red-headed guy John in 1961 when he came a courting my sister Carol. He was around often enough after that, that I invited him to be a groom’s man (usher) at my wedding in 1963. Finally in 1964 John became part of our family when he married Carol. There are too many memories for me to recount all but a few of them at this time.

John and I became business partners, I think it was around 1966 or so, when we decided to jointly purchase a triplex and become landlords. After a few years of urgent calls from tenants regarding leaking roofs, heating & plumbing problems and the sort we decided to sell. I believe we may have got our money back but no more. So much for our business acumen.

In the eulogy, Abe mentioned John’s playing hockey. John & I played together for several years with a group that played Sunday mornings. Every winter Sunday morning for a number of years John would come and pick me up and we would drive together to the hockey rink. It was here that I became aware of John’ s competitive spirit, love of hockey and his excellent hockey skills.

In the eulogy, Abe referred to the cottage John built at Wanipigow. The cottage was built on land leased from the provincial government and the leases were obtained by a lottery draw. John wanted to enhance his chances of getting a lot so he asked his brothers and me to put our names into the lottery. The agreement was that if John’s name was not selected and one of

us got selected we would transfer the lot to John. As it happened John’s name was drawn, my name was drawn and John’s brother Pete’s name was also drawn. All 3 of us ended up building cottages at Wanipigow. Since I wasn’t really wasn’t interested in keeping the cottage I sold my cottage 2 weeks after completing it. It was just a very basic cottage but the cottage John built was more like a luxurious city home. It was built on piles and had a stone (brick?) fireplace.

John was a great raconteur of tales. The one I liked the best was about an incident that happened around the time when John had some guns stolen from their house on Dunning. A suspicious vehicle had been parked on the road outside their place observing their comings and goings. John decided to call the RCMP. In due time an RCMP car arrived with two diminutive female officers. John wasn’t impressed and told them to their faces that before they arrived, he had only to protect his family. Now with their arrival he has his family and two additional females to protect. You can be sure this didn’t go over well with the female officers.

John was first and foremost a family man. He was very proud of the many horse show trophies won by Jason, Sandee & Chris. He was extremely pleased to see all 3 of his children graduate from university and go on to have fulfilling professional careers. He loved his grandchildren and took every opportunity to see them, whether it was racing a go-cart, playing hockey, soccer or baseball. I know he would have liked to have seen his grandchildren grow up, get married and have families of their own. Unfortunately Fate intervened and that won’t be possible. However, I am sure that his grandchildren will never forget him and the good times they had together. Who could ever forget John?