John Wiens

John Wiens died on Saturday, October 19, in Kamloops BC.

He was born on March 20, 1931, in Winnipeg, the fourth child of Anna and Abram Wiens, after Henry, Agnes, and Ann, and before Ernie, all now deceased. As a child, John moved with his Mennonite family from Steinbach to a farm in Yarrow where they grew raspberries and hazelnuts while operating a Mennonite Central Committee depot collecting and shipping donated clothing and other supplies to Mennonites remaining in Russia.

Always a studious child, and open to new ideas, John found himself drawn to studying literature and philosophy while at the same time being immersed in the tightly religious community. After high school, he went to Vancouver Normal School to become a teacher. There he developed a lifelong friendship with Wil Wiens.

After Normal School, he took a teaching position in Prince George. He met and married Trudy Fichtner and taught school in Hartley Bay for a year before moving back to Prince George for a succession of teaching and school administration positions. He and Trudy had three sons - Norm, Don, and Ken.

After becoming the Vice Principal, followed by Principal of Duchess Park Middle School he continued his own education in Edmonton, achieving a PhD in Education Administration in 1968. His interest and research was focused on innovation in education. However, one year at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in Oakville, Ontario convinced him that his destiny was on the ‘front lines’ of education, and in B.C., nearer to family.

In 1969 he became the Director of Instruction with School District 61 in Victoria where he worked to modernise education. He enjoyed that role for several years before he grew disillusioned with the politically motivated Board, and decided to leave SD 61.

After a couple of less satisfying years renovating houses and selling real estate, he was asked to be the temporary Principal of a High School in Sidney where the entire leadership team had been terminated. He accepted that challenge and with the rewarding results there, he was asked to take on another rescue role in Bella Coola. Once again, he enjoyed the position and also the area. Trudy was not enamoured of the lack of sun and the isolation from the rest of the family so John applied for and became the Superintendent of Schools for SD 30 in 1985, based in Ashcroft. Meanwhile, John and Trudy’s children married and produced three grandchildren - Brett, Matthew, and Tess.

The years in Ashcroft were probably his most rewarding career years and he stayed on until his retirement in 1996 at age 65. His offhand remark at his retirement party, that he would likely take up sky-diving at 80, did not go unnoticed by his friends.

The end of that era was sadly marked by Trudy’s death from pancreatic cancer at age 61.

His post-retirement hobbies included hiking and travelling. He visited Australia, Latin America, Africa and Europe, usually with the Elder Hostel travel group. On these adventures, he developed friendships, some of which lasted many years, and he accumulated stories of the interesting places he had visited and the people he had met.

John Wiens was always his own man, and as time went on, he had developed his own philosophy of life. He had religious beliefs that were his alone. He believed that there was a deity, but not necessarily the God of the Bible that his Mennonite family believed, nor the similar God of the Baptist family that his married family believed in, nor any God worshipped by various world religions. He was happy that others believed what they did and made no effort to dissuade them, not even his children who were encouraged to make up their own minds.

John was a self-proclaimed introvert but usually worked in environments where there was a great deal of interaction with people. He was generally very quiet outside his work, and given his druthers, would have read almost all the time, consistent with his early passion for literature. He generally purchased hard-cover books to support the authors who “deserved to be compensated for their art!” and donated them to anyone who would take them. For years they replenished a community library in Comox.

He was a highly principled man, and honest, sometimes to a fault. He generally kept his deeply-considered thoughts to himself– until he didn’t, and sometimes he regretted the impact his words had on the people he loved. If you asked him for his opinion, he would think about what he was going to say, and then would give you an honest answer. It might not be what you expected, or wanted, to hear, but it was from the heart.

John was also a writer and historian. He felt strongly that his own family should be aware of the lives, hardships and adventures of their ancestors. He wrote a book - The Wanderers: The Story of Abram & Anna Wiens ~ Heritage, Family, and Service’ ~ - which chronicled the history of his parents and their Mennonite roots. He also wrote highly entertaining, whimsical and thoughtful letters to friends and family.

After another few years in Ashcroft, he moved to Kamloops where he joined a choir, and fell in love with the choir director, Louise Douglas, and in 2007 he married her. He was 76 and Louise was 67. It was a happy time for John and Louise as they travelled, curled and sang together. Dad became stepdad to Louise’s adult children - Jim, Kim, Ron, and John - and Grampa to their children, most of them in the Kamloops area.

When John reached 80 years of age, his gift from his Ashcroft friends who had remembered the offhand remark at his retirement party 15 years earlier, was skydiving lessons. “Serves me right!” he admitted, hand on his forehead. The gift wasn’t wasted as he took the plunge, strapped to an instructor. He was awaiting knee replacement surgery at the time and thought that if something went wrong, he would either get the surgery sooner, or not need it at all. If it went right, it would be an experience. Fortunately, it went right. He had his surgery in due course and attested that Louise was very good at encouraging him to do his rehab. “I believe that she actually enjoys it,” he confided, as he finished another painful leg extension.

Louise was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2014. This precipitated a move to Riverbend Estates where they lived for several years. Dad, now in his mid-80s, was her chief caregiver and gradually took on many of the roles that Louise had managed for both of them. This was particularly difficult during the COVID years, but John was happy to be the care-giving partner, while often seeming to be unaware of Louise’s decline. Louise’s disease progressed to the point where she needed full-time care, and was moved to the nearby Ridgeview Lodge in early 2022. Soon after, John also decided to move into that lodge to be near her. John and Louise had rooms four doors apart and they spent most of their waking hours together until she finally succumbed to the disease in November 2023. During the last few years, John’s stepdaughter-in-law, Janice Douglas, was a tremendous help during this time. She was best friend to Louise, and was advocate, companion, and helper, to John and to the rest of the family. We are so grateful to her for her selfless care and constant good humour through difficult times.

As John’s three sons (Norm, Ken and Don), we remember some of the fun times with John, our Dad, as we were growing up.

One of the best readers of the Winnie the Pooh stories, Dad would read with great expression, putting his heart into it, making up the various voices for Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and the other characters, especially Baby Roo. He made up the tunes for the songs and sang them to us as he read. He had trouble reading some of the chapters that had to do with Christopher Robin growing up. (Who doesn’t?!) But he was a “one-story Dad” and we knew we couldn’t get him to read “just one more chapter!” Later, at our request, he recorded himself reading the books so we would have a record of them for our children and grandchildren, who will be able to enjoy listening to Grampa’s rendition of Winnie the Pooh for years to come.

He made up card games designed to interest us in the literature that he thought we should be aware of. We played Go Fish - like games where you had to collect four poems by Matthew Arnold or Ogden Nash. Guess which one of the three sons didn’t really like that game.

Dad also thought it was important for us to be comfortable with tools from the shop, and encouraged us to use any tool we wanted while getting us to help with repairs and projects around the house. This stood us all in good stead for the future as we are all pretty handy, especially Don, whose well-equipped shop and skills with every tool ever made reflects his father’s early encouragement.

When we weren’t doing house repairs, he and Mom would take us camping in the summer with one of those 9 x 12 canvas tents, which as we all know are impossible to put up, and which are never quite dry when they are put away. We learned the hard way, you don’t put your hands on the walls of a tent when it’s raining. It usually took all five of us to carry it to the car and stuff it into the trunk.

When in Prince George we would tramp through the snow on the Fichtner farm until we found the perfect Christmas tree, and Dad would make it more perfect at home by lodging more branches into the trunk. In the city, we could NOT buy a tree at the first stop unless we went to at least one other lot, and then we would invariably go back to pick up the agreed upon “best tree.” Once, while searching for a tree outside of Edmonton, we got stuck in the snow out on the prairie. It took all of us working together to get the car out. We later found out that Mom and Dad had brilliantly planned that “adventurous mishap” so that together we could figure out how to get unstuck.

In the summertime, when we were teenagers, we all wanted a ski boat, so Dad thought he would build one for us. We all joined in the making of it, but it was mostly Dad. He was a good builder, but not a great sailor. The first ten minutes that he drove it he crashed it into the back end of another boat. We had lots of adventures on that boat, and did lots of things we shouldn’t have done.

Dad instilled in us a work ethic by showing us how hard he himself was willing to work to do a good job, especially in his roles in education where he took his leadership position very seriously. He was willing to make difficult decisions and follow through. An example of this was when he was the superintendent at Ashcroft. Robert Noyes, a principal in the district, was convicted of sexual abuse. He had been moved from district to district due to suspicions and allegations but was finally removed and convicted in Ashcroft on Dad’s watch. A few years later, a female teacher was also identified and convicted. To complete the processes took a great deal of effort and predictably exposed the district to negative national attention, but Dad felt it was the right thing to do.

Dad was also very generous when he saw people in need.

When we were growing up in Victoria, there was always somebody in our home that may have been down on their luck and Dad and Mom would make sure the door was always open, a good meal would be on the table, and a comfy bed would await.

John/Dad/Grampa will be remembered in many different ways by the people who knew him. Some will wonder about him and not know who he really was, some will have mixed feelings, and others will admire him for what he was and love him unconditionally. “He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again.”

He usually ended his letters to his family in one of two ways:

Have fun,

Or

I love you all more than I can say.

“THE BEGATS”

John and Trudy begat Norman John Wiens, Donald Ervin Wiens, and Kenneth Richard Wiens (sons)

Norm and Kerry begat Brett Michael Wiens and Matthew David Wiens (grandsons)

Ken and Patti begat Tess Alexandra Wiens (granddaughter)

Brett and Tracy begat Des Walter Reginald Wiens and Brooke Victoria Wiens (great-grandchildren)

John’s Step Family via Louise

James (Jim) Edward Douglas, wife Jan and daughter (grandchild) Crystal Louise

Kimberly Faye Slattery, husband John

Ronald Allan Douglas, children (grandchildren) Samantha Kimberly, Brady DS, former wife Corrinna

Louise’s Stepfamily

John Gerard Grass, children (grandchildren) Alita Louise Elizabeth, Kyra Taylor, partner Brandon, grandchildren (great-grandchildren) Calcifer Everett, Olivia Jane

A service will be held at Schoening Dignity Memorial in Kamloops on Saturday, May 3 at 1:30 PM. If you expect to attend, please RSVP to normwiens@gmail.com