Chapter 3: Peter C. Loewen cont.
copyright Lorilee Scharfenberg and Nettie Brandt 2000
CORNELIUS BARKMAN LOEWEN
Cornie, as a young boy, always had limitless energy. He would rather run than walk and yet he was still a fairly shy boy. He enjoyed life on the farm, especially driving their Allis Chalmers tractor. He looked up to his older brother Pete with great admiration, while his sister Anna was like a second mother to him. He enjoyed school very much and eagerly learned all that his teacher, George P. Goossen, allowed him. As the world scene began to impact the small Mennonite community of Rosenhoff, Cornie felt his heart and mind affected by the call to democracy. He began to feel angry with the idea of Hitler's dictatorship and followed the Allied battles with great interest. He was only 13 when World War II began and never fully surrendered to the Mennonite ideal of pacifism in his teenage years. The adventure and newness of it all intrigued him and he even dressed in khaki clothes and wrote many letters to his friends that had already joined the war effort.
Cornie was rebellious toward the Lord during his teen years and yet experienced several clear callings to the ministry during that time in his life. One that he related in detail went like this: He was still at home and unsaved when he awoke in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. He knew that he was in the presence of the supernatural although his brothers in the same room were asleep and never noticed anything. He was totally awake and yet felt as if he was in a trance. The Spirit of the Lord surrounded him and God spoke to him. He was completely convicted of his sinfulness as the Lord spoke and said, "I will send YOU!" The only thing Cornie said at that time was "Where?" At that moment Cornie said he would have gone anywhere without any promise of remuneration and yet he had never even experienced salvation. Cornie felt helpless when the vision left him but certain that it was the Lord's calling in his life. Ironically Cornie did not turn to Christ at that time; instead he continued in his rebellion. For many years after he eventually surrendered his life to the Lord, he lived in fear that the Lord would have cancelled that call in his life because he had not immediately obeyed.
Cornie agreed to serve as a C.O. and give up his chance to serve in the military simply because his father asked him to with tears in his eyes. He worked in the lumber camps for several years. God was shaping his life. Cornie and Tina B. Eidse were engaged in 1947 just before the new year began and were both still unsaved. In 1948 their lives turned upside down when they both dedicated their lives to the Lord through the ministry of the radio. They had to break their engagement and then get re-engaged in order for their marriage to be recognized by the church. During this time Cornie's parents were getting ready to move to Mexico and so they accelerated their wedding plans to accommodate the family before they left. Both Cornie and Tina were also baptized before their wedding. It is ironic that although they became Christians through the radio, they had to sell it when they joined the church. Cornie's life changed dramatically. He went from being completely consumed by militaristic ideas to being consumed by Jesus Christ. He believed that the church should function more like the military and that all Christians should be willing to die for Christ and to go anywhere for their leader and this was how he lived his life from that day. First it was all for the Allies and then ALL for Christ.
The Lord led them through many mountains and valleys throughout the next number of years both literally and spiritually. They became parents early in their married lives and lived life quietly on the parents= farm. Their lives changed again when the church in Rosenort sent them as missionaries to spend ten years in the mountains of Mexico with their growing family. Cornie and Tina learned the Spanish language quickly and began to minister in the clinic and in the homes of the Mexican people. Tina continued in her role as a homemaker and mother but also served as a nurse. She delivered well over one hundred children into the world including several of her nieces and nephews. Cornie was affectionately called "Hermano Cornelio" and he won his way into the hearts of the Spanish sisters and brothers teaching their children, chauffeuring the sick to doctors and doing intense personal evangelism with all those he came in contact with. The Lord blessed and the Mexican EMC Church grew rapidly. During those ten years from 1954 until 1964, the family expanded from two daughters and one son to five lovely children. One of the benefits of serving as missionaries in Mexico was having grandparents (Peter C. Loewens), aunts and uncles and many cousins nearby for their children to love and enjoy.
The years back in Morris were blessed years. Cornie and Tina enjoyed building up their own home and yard in Riverside, close to where the C.D. Loewens= original homestead had been. One more child was added to the family during this time much to their surprise. Cornie and Tina served as pastoral couple for 20 years in the Morris Fellowship. Cornie also conducted many evangelistic meetings and was chaplain for the Morris Hospital. He also continued to dabble in farming and carpentry. Many farmers hired him to swath their canola (rape) when it was somewhat lodged because they always said that he was one of few men who had the patience to do the job properly and finish the task completely. I think the man he was named after would have been proud. The last number of years he was the speaker on the Good News radio program. This was a ministry he delighted in despite the long hours of writing sermons in the Low German language.
Cornie was a man of many interests. He loved doing jigsaw and crossword puzzles, reading many diverse books, playing knipsbrat and checkers, collecting humorous cartoons from the Manitoba Co-operator, watching Hockey Night in Canada and travelling. He was a prolific writer and his family published his memoirs in a book entitled I Remember - Riverside and the Regions Beyond in 1995. Life for Cornie and Tina was never dull but rather one adventure after another. Cornie lived his life with a certain spontaneity and even in the suddenness of his death by heart attack in April of 1994 he managed to exit as he had begun life: as a soldier of Christ - with dignity and drama!
Since Cornie has been gone, Tina has become a grandmother three times, twice through births and once through marriage. She has managed to survive two painful hip surgeries and two more Red River Valley Floods (1996, 1997) without him at her side. In the last flood, waters inundated both her home and those of two of her children. She has seen their oldest two daughters celebrate their twenty-fifth wedding anniversaries. Their grandchildren are getting baptized, graduating from school and getting married. Tina enjoys doing jigsaw puzzles, reading books, gardening, listening to country gospel music and visiting with family and friends to pass away the lonely hours.
MARY (LOEWEN) LOEWEN
Mary's Early Years bTina B. Loewen
It seemed so very sudden that the Lord decided to take him away from home and such a young family. During the next few years after she was widowed, Mary continued farming, especially by raising chickens and in that way managed to stay self-sufficient. I respected her greatly for that!
Elizabeth and Margaret often stayed with her during those lonely nights after her dear husband passed away. The Loewen family may have been quiet by nature but they were always faithful to their own. Cornie always enjoyed the touching poetry that his sister Mary wrote. It was also wonderful that she found another kind man to share her life and children with. Menno and Mary have stuck together through all kinds of wind and weather and have blessed many with their friendship.
My Story
In 1946 Jesus drew me and I followed. "The cross before me, the world behind me." In 1948 we left our home in Canada and moved to Mexico. A young man by the name of Aaron Reimer began to come to visit me soon after we moved. One gift he gave me during our dating was a stationery set. On July 24th, 1949 I got married to Aaron. It was a big event! There were heavy rains the day of our wedding and the creeks were filled almost to overflowing. Ours was the first wedding in the new church that was built and my wedding dress was pale sky-blue. The reception was held at my parent=s place later. My parents provided all the flour, sugar and lard for our honeymoon year. We had four wonderful children together. Aaron was by my side during the births because I delivered them at home with my mother acting as midwife.
Only six years later lightning took my husband from my side. Lord, take me too! But there are four small children that need me. In 1958, I went to Canada for a visit for the first time since moving away. A young man in Belize (Menno Loewen) whose girlfriend had drowned thought of me. In 1960, after corresponding for some time he came to see me. We were married on October 9, 1960 and my children had a daddy again. How mysterious and wonderful are God's ways! Menno wore a light blue suit and since he was very tall the arms had to be lengthened on it. I wore a dark blue dress for the wedding. During our first week of marriage we worked together on the fields stooking hay!
In 1961 we moved to Belize. Over the years we made numerous trips to Mexico. A highlight was going to Guatemala with the family after the earthquake and working under Church World Service for two and a half months. Menno and I also enjoyed teaching English classes together on the colony for a few months!
Menno and I have enjoyed travelling together. In 1982 we attended the parents= 60th wedding anniversary and later my Dad's funeral. The following year we moved to the Valley of Peace (refugee camp) and worked under M.C.C. for three months. In 1993 we had a wonderful Loewen Gathering here in Belize. In 1994 I had the privilege of being near my brother Cornie during his last hours on earth and at his funeral! We also made several other trips through the years to Manitoba for health reasons and also to Nova Scotia to visit our children.
In our spare time Menno and I both like to read. I enjoy sewing simple quilts for charity while Menno enjoys studying science and astronomy. We have received some very precious gifts from the Lord, ten children and over forty grandchildren. Currently we are serving under M.C.C. in Guatemala where Menno is engineering a building project. He has been involved in the construction of many bridges and roads. In his younger years he worked as a farmer and logger.
Memories -Menno Loewen
I remember Aaron, Mary's first husband as an excellent mason and very fast at plastering. He was also very strong and could walk with his hands along a suspended 2X4 without touching the ground. I noticed Mary first because of her beautiful red hair. This was before I was interested in her. After that I was always drawn to girls with red hair. I was resistant to the idea of marrying a widow but the Lord made it very clear to me that this was His will through various dreams, letters and encouragement from others. The most wonderful thing she ever said to me was shortly after our marriage. She said that she could relax now about dying because she knew someone would love her children and take care of them.
JOHN BARKMAN LOEWEN
My Life
I have many memories of my youth:
I remember receiving my very first coloring book on my fourth birthday and that we, the children, had measles and whooping cough before I ever attended school.
My little brother Frank almost drowned in Johann Barkmans pond, but luckily Uncle Johann spied him just in time to pull him out. We rode to school in a covered sleigh, the sun just peeking over the horizon with the snow all a-glittering. We always had to be there on time - and be there every day.
Dad got us an old Shetland pony (blind in one eye) with a two wheel cart. Later he exchanged the horse for a younger one. We had to clean out the henhouse every Saturday while my two older brothers were both serving as C.O's in lumber camp. The pony and sled came in very handy.
A definite highlight of my life was the immigration to Mexico in 1948. As an eighteen-year-old, I helped bachelor Abram J. Dueck take care of a carload of purebred Holstein cows and heifers on the freight train ride from Emerson to Cuauhtemoc, Chihuahua, Mexico. The trip lasted from September seventh to the 25th. In Madero, Mexico, the cattle were without water for over 48 hours but they all survived and made it to their new home in Los Jaqueyes. The rest of my family (PCL) arrived a month later journeying by truck and automobile.
In April of 1949, I accepted the Lord Jesus as my personal Saviour and we, Mary and I, were baptized on October 2nd later that year.
On February 24th, Mary F. Dueck and I were joined in holy matrimony. In January of 1955, our first and only child, Elizabeth, passed away after a short bout with pneumonia. A month later my brother Ben had a serious accident, rubbing off one ear on a gravel road. On Monday, the 25th of July, my brother-in-law Aaron Reimer passed away when he was struck by lightening. The same week on Saturday, the 30th, a thunderbolt struck our home, destroying the chimney and scattering stovepipes about the room, but it did not harm Mary and 4 month old Cornie who were alone in the house at the time. ---"Lord what wilt thou have me do?"---
After all these experiences by the Lord's hand, we were ready to accept the task of teaching school at the request of the ministerial starting in November of the same year. It is a privilege we have enjoyed for eight successive years - three in Mexico and five here in Belize. We had one hundred and sixteen different pupils that we learned to love. How often in the years of the church ministry thoughts would go back: How much simpler to deal with children than with adults! But God's grace has not been in vain; hitherto hath the Lord helped us. Praise His Holy Name!
I was ordained as a deacon on June 11, 1961, and as a minister on July 7, 1963. Later I was called to the office of Bishop on March 9, 1980. We were involved in a Spanish ministry from 1980 til 1985 and spent about three and a half months in 1989 and 1990 helping start a new church in Campo Chihuahua, Bolivia. Membership numbers about one hundred people as of January 1996. My wife Mary and I live on Spanish Lookout in the Cayo District of Belize. I farm and my wife is a homemaker.
Mary by Tina B. Loewen
Mary's mother passed away when she was quite young and so she lived in Rosenort with the Abram Friesen family. She grew up in their home and she and Mrs. Elizabeth Dueck were as close as any sisters could have been. Later when her father remarried she moved back to Kleefeld to live with him and her step-mother. Later on they moved to Mexico. It was there that she and John met. She has always been totally supportive of him in his ministry. She loves to travel and has the unique ability to see the beauty in everything. She has battled with cancer for many years and the Lord has thus far granted healing. John and Mary share six children: three sons and three daughters.
HELEN (LOEWEN) REIMER
I was educated in Rosenhoff and my teacher was Mr. George P. Goossen for all eight years. In 1948, as a girl of 16 years, my family moved to Mexico. I had never been more than 50 miles from home in Rosenhoff. It was thrilling. However, we were sorry that we had to leave one brother and his wife, who were newly married, behind. The rest of our family all went. As a young girl I really enjoyed all the camping that we did along the way. I also found it very interesting that all the houses that were built were made of brick. I was baptized on October 2, 1949.
I met and married a young man by the name of Nick Reimer and we farmed together in Mexico. In 1961 we moved to Belize as a young family with four children. It was an adventure making a new start in a strange land. Bush clearing was done with the help of the natives. They chopped strips with their machetes to give indications of how far to clear and then cleared the underbrush. Next the large trees were cut down with a chainsaw and moved to an open patch with a caterpillar. In the warm and dry months the land was burnt off. At this point we could plant corn or sow grass. We used a pointed stick to make holes for the corn and then dropped in a few seeds.
On June 23, 1963, Nick was elected a songleader in the church and later served as a deacon from July 31st, 1966, until his death in 1979. We found it a very worthwhile experience visiting the poor natives living around us and sharing the gospel with them.
In 1976, Nick, I and our entire family made a trip to Manitoba where Nick underwent heart surgery. The surgery was successful. We had a wonderful time together as a family and on the way home we did some sightseeing, made our own meals and slept in our camper. We also visited our loved ones in Mexico. Our daughter Elma was married three months after we came home. Nick was much healthier for three years until 1979. Our family continued to farm together after Nick passed away.
We have owned, rented and managed between three and four hundred acres of land. Our crops have mostly been corn and beans but we have also tried peppers and now have seeded black-eyed peas. The first tractor we ever owned we shared with Nick=s brother. It was a grey Twin City (Minneapolis Moline). Now we own Massey Fergusons - even our riding mower is one! It was a challenge raising broilers in the warmest days, so when I was widowed we quit that and started raising more laying hens. Most of our children learned to milk the cows and also took turns caring for the chickens. The oldest boys were old enough to continue plowing and seeding when Nick left us. They had a lot to learn such as doing work at the right time. We=re still learning! Can you imagine a nice crop of corn standing, almost ready to harvest, then a flood comes and covers it all. It is a messy job, picking the corn, threshing and drying it after the water runs off.
Our winter garden, which we start in November and December is the most important. We grow peas, beans, carrots, cabbage, lettuce, broccoli, potatoes, peppers, tomatoes and peanuts and much more. The summer garden is better for sweet corn, cucumbers and pumpkin. We sow tomatoes and Chinese cabbage in summer too.
Some highlights of my life have been the Loewen Gathering in 1982 for my parents= Anniversary, which was very special, and also the one in February of 1993 in Belize. We missed our parents and Margaret dearly. I keep myself busy sewing quilts and looking after my farm.
MARTIN BARKMAN LOEWEN
Martin Loewen has spent most of his life in mixed farming but is currently involved in trucking. Elizabeth has blessed her family as a homemaker.
Martin was quite a mischievous youngster and managed to have many escapades in his teen years together with his brothers. Many a Sunday morning was spent having tractor pulls and he was also a natural cowboy, spending many afternoons horseback riding. He enjoyed the excitement of Red River Valley Floods while still in Canada and then adventured with his parents to new lands in Mexico in 1948. He experienced frontier life at its best and worst in Mexico. Martin=s first car was a 1941 grey Ford and his first tractor was a WD 45 Allis Chalmers.
He began a special friendship with Elizabeth Plett in 1953. Although he was somewhat rebellious as a youth he finally gave his life over to the Lord to the delight of his parents and he was baptized on June 6, 1954. Elizabeth was baptized in April of the same year. Martin and Elizabeth stopped seeing each other for a short time while Martin went to Canada but when he returned he gave her a very special gift. It was a wall plaque that read, AI thought that you would like to know, That someone=s thoughts go where you go. That someone never can forget, The days we spent since first we met. That life is richer, sweeter far, For such a sweetheart as you are. And now my constant prayer will be, That God will keep you safe for me.@
In the summer of 1956 Martin and Elizabeth were married. She wore a blue-gray dress and the sunshine smiled down on them to bless their special day. Together they pioneered in Belize (see John Koop's book on Belize), doing road construction and surveying in the early years. After a year and a half they moved back to Mexico to farm. At the height of their farming career they owned 350 arable acres of land and 50 acres of pastureland. They enjoyed the ups and downs of raising their family of ten: five girls and five boys. Martin attended all the children=s births and even withstood the hair-raising excitement of their son Paul=s arrival in their pick-up truck!
Martin experienced a calling to the ministry and it was confirmed in 1985 when he was elected and ordained as a deacon. This work seemed to come naturally to him as others flocked to him and continue to for guidance and counselling. He and Elizabeth have served as Sunday School teachers and Elizabeth has also been a part of the Ladies Sewing Circle. Martin enjoys reading and getting to know more people. Elizabeth's special gifts include drawing and compiling family genealogies.
My Dad - Leona Loewen
People often make excuses to go to town with my Dad on the oil truck so that they can visit with him. My Dad's most difficult times have been when his children were not living for the Lord and made his life hard. His greatest joy is that we have all chosen to follow Christ. He found it hard to deal with when his son Danny had an accident and his arm had to be amputated. His heart attack has made it impossible for him to do hard work. It was also difficult for him to give up his youngest son, Erwin, because they were working together to build up the farm and dairy herd. It was going very well when Erwin was suddenly killed by lightning. Since then he has sold all the cows and the land and equipment has all been rented to another son. Usually he feels well and loves his job of trucking oil.
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Last Updated Feb 2, 2002 by Lorilee Scharfenberg