Martha Born

In 1937 her father got taken by the KGB in the middle of the night never to be seen again. The following years brought many hardships, the terrible hunger years and then WW2. In 1943 Martha along with her three older sisters and mother were evacuated first to Belarus and then to Poland where she attended school. From 1944 to 1945 they were in Germany where Martha met Franz Born. In 1945 they all got shipped to Siberia, Russia where they all had to do physical labour and where her mom and sister passed away.

Franz and Martha got married on November 7, 1952. The Lord blessed them with seven children, two of which died at infancy. When Martha was 26 years old she accepted the Lord as her personal savior and was baptized two years later in a Mennonite Brethren church. In 1958 the young family moved to Kazakhstan close to the large city Alma-Ata. They purchased a house with a large property so that they could sustain their family and more or less be self-reliant with a garden, an orchard as well as some farm animals. It was a busy life and there was always something to do. Martha also worked as a seamstress at a local factory and Franz worked for the collective farm. The children grew and joined the thriving church community in the town.

In 1978 they got the long awaited permission to move to Canada to join Franz’s brother and family here in Abbotsford. Soon after they arrived in Abbotsford they became members of the King Road Church. They built a house and married off their five children, then welcomed 13 grandchildren and later great grandchildren.

In 2005 Martha moved to Menno Terrace East to be closer to Franz as his Parkinson’s disease was progressing fast and he was placed into Menno Home. Franz passed away in January of 2008. Martha continued living at Menno Terrace East encouraging and praying for her children, grandchildren and friends. She stayed true to the end to her Lord Jesus. Martha leaves behind her five children; Elizabeth (Henry) Penner, Peter (Agnes) Born, Maria (Yuri) Geng, Will (Luise) Born, Agnes (Ernie) Froese, her 13 grandchildren, 24 great grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews in Germany.