Funeral service will be held at 2:00PM on Wednesday December 28, 2022 at Grace Mennonite Church with interment at the Winkler Cemetery. Viewing will be from 1PM-7PM on Tuesday at Wiebe Funeral Home, Winkler and at the church prior to the service.
Maria Fehr Loewen (nee Loewen)Born December 24, 1930
Deceased Thursday, December 22, 2022
For us as stepchildren, we felt Mom’s love from the very beginning. She tried very hard to not show any difference in how she cared for us from how she cared for her own children. This is very much evident in the love she has received from all of us.
She also loved our dad. They had many good years together. I think this is where her love of fishing came from. They spent many hours camping and fishing together, something that our dad loved to do.
She is the only grandmother our children have known, and they loved her and will miss her deeply.
Each one of us has received a grandma blanket. She loved making them and we loved receiving them.
She was able to connect with many of her grandchildren. In her last months, I was able to visit her a number of times. During those times she was able to connect with people in person and via Skype. One special moment was being able to Skype with her great grandson, Ashton, who was fighting fires in northern Alberta. She reminded him to be careful, and told him that she was praying daily for his safety. I was blessed to be able to witness these precious moments. My visits with her were very special to me, spending our time just chatting.
Occasionally, I was able to surprise her by bringing someone along to visit, someone like Margaret, Kaylee, or Kathy and Ruth. She loved those surprises. The look on her face when her granddaughter, Cara, walked into the room was priceless. On one visit, Aunt Kathy and I took her to for a drive in the country to see the fall colors. It was good to see her being outside and taking delight in the scenery around her. Those visits were rated with comments like, “This is a million-dollar day,” or, “This is a golden day,” She told Ruth that she would rather have a visit from her than a thousand dollars. These visits were precious memories for her.
Her sense of humor stayed with her until the end.
Mom had lost a significant amount of weight over the months, and when she wore a particular pair of leggings, her legs look like sticks. I couldn't help myself and told her she had “schmucka Heina Bein.” We had a good laugh over that.
The biggest legacy, and the thing I will miss the most, is hearing how she prayed for us daily. There was not a visit we had where she did not remind me of that. She once told me that she prayed through her family list every night, and if she still had difficulty falling asleep, she would pray for her nieces and nephews. She cared deeply for each member of her family. We were very important to her.
We will miss you, Mom. Whenever we look at our blankets, we will think of you and remember our times together.
Mom was seventeen when she first arrived in Canada . . . but we’re jumping ahead.
Mom, as with most people, was a much more complex and interesting person than we could ever hope to convey in this short time of remembering.
Mom was born in Mexico to Heinrich and Maria (nee Krahn) Loewen and spent her early years there. Being the second oldest, as she grew older and more children were born, one of the things Mom ended up doing, and loving, was to help with the care of her younger siblings.
And there’s still more, much, much more.
One thing of interest Mom shared was that, as a young teenager, her Dad would wonder at why she went through shoes so quickly. She knew. She loved to go out dancing with the youth.
Times being tough in Mexico in the mid-1940s, her parents decided to move to Canada.
Mom entered the work force, doing many different things that also helped shape her into the lady she was.
In the early 1950s, she met and married Abe Fehr and they had three children together: Harry, Diane, and Jack.
To help support the family, Mom did many things outside the home. She loved her family dearly and would do anything to keep the family solvent and together, often working two jobs.
Dad Abe Fehr died in the early 1970s and she knew she had to keep the family afloat, so she kept working one or two jobs at a time.
In the mid-1970s, a friend and neighbor introduced her to the man whom she would marry, Jake Loewen, and moved to Austin where they spent almost 30 years together.
When Mom and Dad got married, we became a blended family consisting of Harry and Karen, Diane and Jason, Jack (deceased) and Brenda, Elaine and Les, Marlene and Abe, Wilma and Arnie, Margaret and Rick, and finally Larry (deceased) with his first wife, Anne, and later, Lorna, and all of us with our children and grandchildren who, as they came along, loved Mom as their own Mom and Grandma and Great Grandma.
Mom and Dad Loewen enjoyed traveling, camping, and fishing together, as well as spending time with their children and their families. She was so precious to her great grandchildren that some bestowed upon her the very important title of “very grandma”.
One of Mom’s joys was her garden. She was always proud of all that her garden produced. She took particular joy in coming across a vegetable that was extraordinary in size.
Mom enjoyed sewing and helping others. In Austin she enjoyed spending time working in the MCC store where she often found some the fabric for the many blankets she sewed for family, friends, and for people in different parts of the world as she donated them to a mission agency in Winnipeg. One of her greatest privileges and honors was when she was able to donate one of her handmade blankets to Katie Cares Cottage, a place where parents and families of children going through medical treatments at Boundary Trails hospital could stay to be close.
Mom’s blanket-making continued until a couple of months ago. All her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren appreciated the love she put into the making of the blankets, and as they wrap themselves up, they continue to know and feel Mom’s love envelop them.
This still doesn’t even come close delving into the depths of Mom’s diversity.
She loved to do and watch and think of many things.
She loved watching sports, particularly with family around her, and she loved to cheer for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the Winnipeg Jets, and the Toronto Blue Jays. Even in the last days she would ask whoever came in to visit if the Jets had won and what the score had been.
Mom loved to play games as well. Many evenings were spent playing games with family, especially after she and Dad Loewen moved to Winkler. She was up to learning new games whenever family members suggested them. She loved to play games like SkipBo, Canasta, Dominoes, Phase 10, Aggravation, and other interesting versions of rummy. In her younger years she didn’t really like to lose, although in the last years winning wasn’t nearly as important as being together, surrounded by family, and spending time with them.
Along with games, Mom loved to puzzle, either in the common room or on her kitchen table. What she especially enjoyed was having family join her in solving those puzzles. And speaking of puzzles, she would also have a word search puzzle book near at hand.
During those game and puzzle nights, Mom also loved to munch on candy. Many evenings were spent with a game or puzzle in progress together with a variety of candies.
Mom, together with Dad Loewen, loved camping and traveled with their camper trailer from Northern Ontario to BC, frequently meeting up and traveling together with friends and siblings and playing games – always games.
Going along with the theme of camping and the outdoors, Mom enjoyed watching and feeding the birds who would come to feast in front of her apartment. She loved and enjoyed them all, but she was a little biased towards the smaller birds while the bigger birds, like the crows and blackbirds, she didn’t appreciate as much because they would dominate the bird feeder to the exclusion of the smaller birds. Even the blue jays, though they were prettier and more colorful than the blackbirds and crows, dominated the birdfeeders when they arrived, so she changed the bird feed to one that most of those bigger birds didn’t eat. There was another visitor she liked to see – a squirrel. Not all of the seeds were eaten by the discriminating birds, but the squirrel enjoyed them all.
To go along with the birds are other four-legged creatures who came to love her just as dearly as any person could, and they were also considered family by her. She and Dad Loewen sort of took in a black cat called Kona while they lived in Austin. When Mom was out visiting family, their pets all came to love her and she loved them and spoiled them, just like she loved and often spoiled her grandchildren.
Mom also had a good sense of humor. It’s difficult to recall her humor and practical jokes because some of the best jokes are the ones that are spontaneous. Any little word or sound or color or flavor can bring them to mind.
In 2004 Mom and Dad Loewen sold their home in Austin and moved into their brand-new condo at Garden Park Estates in Winkler, complete with warm floors, new appliances, and new furniture, other than the antiques she valued dearly and brought with her. She felt like a queen.
Dad was only able to enjoy their new condo for less than a year before he passed away, but Mom remained there with her desire being to be able to stay in her apartment to the end with family around her. Her final wish was granted, and now she is enjoying a life even greater and more blessed than any she could have imagined here on earth as she is now in the arms of Jesus.
My mother was precious and special to me. We spent a lot of time with each other, especially the last number of years.
We cooked, baked, shopped, played table games, puzzled, went for rides in the car, made quilts, or talking about food. She even taught me how to make apple fritters and fruit-filled crepes without a recipe.
We shared how we prayed for each other and our family.
All these things and times have been very meaningful and personal.
I will miss Mom, but I have these and many more memories to treasure in my heart.
We all have our special memories with Maria that we take with us as she leaves a legacy and a pattern to follow.
We release her to our loving God and will cherish her always.
A special German prayer Mom learned as a child:
This short German verse was one of Mom’s favorite prayers, one that she prayed daily. The English verse is the translation of the German.
Christi Blut und Gerechtigkeit
Christi Blut und Gerechtigkeit,
das ist mein Schmuck und Ehrenkleid,
damit will ich vor Gott bestehn,
wenn ich zum Himmel werd eingehn.
The Blood of Christ and His Righteousness
The blood of Christ and His righteousness,
Are my glory and heavenly gown.
With them I want to face the Lord,
When I shall enter Heaven’s portal.
Maria Fehr Loewen (nee Loewen)Born December 24, 1930
Deceased Thursday, December 22, 2022
For us as stepchildren, we felt Mom’s love from the very beginning. She tried very hard to not show any difference in how she cared for us from how she cared for her own children. This is very much evident in the love she has received from all of us.
She also loved our dad. They had many good years together. I think this is where her love of fishing came from. They spent many hours camping and fishing together, something that our dad loved to do.
She is the only grandmother our children have known, and they loved her and will miss her deeply.
Each one of us has received a grandma blanket. She loved making them and we loved receiving them.
She was able to connect with many of her grandchildren. In her last months, I was able to visit her a number of times. During those times she was able to connect with people in person and via Skype. One special moment was being able to Skype with her great grandson, Ashton, who was fighting fires in northern Alberta. She reminded him to be careful, and told him that she was praying daily for his safety. I was blessed to be able to witness these precious moments. My visits with her were very special to me, spending our time just chatting.
Occasionally, I was able to surprise her by bringing someone along to visit, someone like Margaret, Kaylee, or Kathy and Ruth. She loved those surprises. The look on her face when her granddaughter, Cara, walked into the room was priceless. On one visit, Aunt Kathy and I took her to for a drive in the country to see the fall colors. It was good to see her being outside and taking delight in the scenery around her. Those visits were rated with comments like, “This is a million-dollar day,” or, “This is a golden day,” She told Ruth that she would rather have a visit from her than a thousand dollars. These visits were precious memories for her.
Her sense of humor stayed with her until the end.
Mom had lost a significant amount of weight over the months, and when she wore a particular pair of leggings, her legs look like sticks. I couldn't help myself and told her she had “schmucka Heina Bein.” We had a good laugh over that.
The biggest legacy, and the thing I will miss the most, is hearing how she prayed for us daily. There was not a visit we had where she did not remind me of that. She once told me that she prayed through her family list every night, and if she still had difficulty falling asleep, she would pray for her nieces and nephews. She cared deeply for each member of her family. We were very important to her.
We will miss you, Mom. Whenever we look at our blankets, we will think of you and remember our times together.
Mom was seventeen when she first arrived in Canada . . . but we’re jumping ahead.
Mom, as with most people, was a much more complex and interesting person than we could ever hope to convey in this short time of remembering.
Mom was born in Mexico to Heinrich and Maria (nee Krahn) Loewen and spent her early years there. Being the second oldest, as she grew older and more children were born, one of the things Mom ended up doing, and loving, was to help with the care of her younger siblings.
And there’s still more, much, much more.
One thing of interest Mom shared was that, as a young teenager, her Dad would wonder at why she went through shoes so quickly. She knew. She loved to go out dancing with the youth.
Times being tough in Mexico in the mid-1940s, her parents decided to move to Canada.
Mom entered the work force, doing many different things that also helped shape her into the lady she was.
In the early 1950s, she met and married Abe Fehr and they had three children together: Harry, Diane, and Jack.
To help support the family, Mom did many things outside the home. She loved her family dearly and would do anything to keep the family solvent and together, often working two jobs.
Dad Abe Fehr died in the early 1970s and she knew she had to keep the family afloat, so she kept working one or two jobs at a time.
In the mid-1970s, a friend and neighbor introduced her to the man whom she would marry, Jake Loewen, and moved to Austin where they spent almost 30 years together.
When Mom and Dad got married, we became a blended family consisting of Harry and Karen, Diane and Jason, Jack (deceased) and Brenda, Elaine and Les, Marlene and Abe, Wilma and Arnie, Margaret and Rick, and finally Larry (deceased) with his first wife, Anne, and later, Lorna, and all of us with our children and grandchildren who, as they came along, loved Mom as their own Mom and Grandma and Great Grandma.
Mom and Dad Loewen enjoyed traveling, camping, and fishing together, as well as spending time with their children and their families. She was so precious to her great grandchildren that some bestowed upon her the very important title of “very grandma”.
One of Mom’s joys was her garden. She was always proud of all that her garden produced. She took particular joy in coming across a vegetable that was extraordinary in size.
Mom enjoyed sewing and helping others. In Austin she enjoyed spending time working in the MCC store where she often found some the fabric for the many blankets she sewed for family, friends, and for people in different parts of the world as she donated them to a mission agency in Winnipeg. One of her greatest privileges and honors was when she was able to donate one of her handmade blankets to Katie Cares Cottage, a place where parents and families of children going through medical treatments at Boundary Trails hospital could stay to be close.
Mom’s blanket-making continued until a couple of months ago. All her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren appreciated the love she put into the making of the blankets, and as they wrap themselves up, they continue to know and feel Mom’s love envelop them.
This still doesn’t even come close delving into the depths of Mom’s diversity.
She loved to do and watch and think of many things.
She loved watching sports, particularly with family around her, and she loved to cheer for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the Winnipeg Jets, and the Toronto Blue Jays. Even in the last days she would ask whoever came in to visit if the Jets had won and what the score had been.
Mom loved to play games as well. Many evenings were spent playing games with family, especially after she and Dad Loewen moved to Winkler. She was up to learning new games whenever family members suggested them. She loved to play games like SkipBo, Canasta, Dominoes, Phase 10, Aggravation, and other interesting versions of rummy. In her younger years she didn’t really like to lose, although in the last years winning wasn’t nearly as important as being together, surrounded by family, and spending time with them.
Along with games, Mom loved to puzzle, either in the common room or on her kitchen table. What she especially enjoyed was having family join her in solving those puzzles. And speaking of puzzles, she would also have a word search puzzle book near at hand.
During those game and puzzle nights, Mom also loved to munch on candy. Many evenings were spent with a game or puzzle in progress together with a variety of candies.
Mom, together with Dad Loewen, loved camping and traveled with their camper trailer from Northern Ontario to BC, frequently meeting up and traveling together with friends and siblings and playing games – always games.
Going along with the theme of camping and the outdoors, Mom enjoyed watching and feeding the birds who would come to feast in front of her apartment. She loved and enjoyed them all, but she was a little biased towards the smaller birds while the bigger birds, like the crows and blackbirds, she didn’t appreciate as much because they would dominate the bird feeder to the exclusion of the smaller birds. Even the blue jays, though they were prettier and more colorful than the blackbirds and crows, dominated the birdfeeders when they arrived, so she changed the bird feed to one that most of those bigger birds didn’t eat. There was another visitor she liked to see – a squirrel. Not all of the seeds were eaten by the discriminating birds, but the squirrel enjoyed them all.
To go along with the birds are other four-legged creatures who came to love her just as dearly as any person could, and they were also considered family by her. She and Dad Loewen sort of took in a black cat called Kona while they lived in Austin. When Mom was out visiting family, their pets all came to love her and she loved them and spoiled them, just like she loved and often spoiled her grandchildren.
Mom also had a good sense of humor. It’s difficult to recall her humor and practical jokes because some of the best jokes are the ones that are spontaneous. Any little word or sound or color or flavor can bring them to mind.
In 2004 Mom and Dad Loewen sold their home in Austin and moved into their brand-new condo at Garden Park Estates in Winkler, complete with warm floors, new appliances, and new furniture, other than the antiques she valued dearly and brought with her. She felt like a queen.
Dad was only able to enjoy their new condo for less than a year before he passed away, but Mom remained there with her desire being to be able to stay in her apartment to the end with family around her. Her final wish was granted, and now she is enjoying a life even greater and more blessed than any she could have imagined here on earth as she is now in the arms of Jesus.
My mother was precious and special to me. We spent a lot of time with each other, especially the last number of years.
We cooked, baked, shopped, played table games, puzzled, went for rides in the car, made quilts, or talking about food. She even taught me how to make apple fritters and fruit-filled crepes without a recipe.
We shared how we prayed for each other and our family.
All these things and times have been very meaningful and personal.
I will miss Mom, but I have these and many more memories to treasure in my heart.
We all have our special memories with Maria that we take with us as she leaves a legacy and a pattern to follow.
We release her to our loving God and will cherish her always.
A special German prayer Mom learned as a child:
This short German verse was one of Mom’s favorite prayers, one that she prayed daily. The English verse is the translation of the German.
Christi Blut und Gerechtigkeit
Christi Blut und Gerechtigkeit,
das ist mein Schmuck und Ehrenkleid,
damit will ich vor Gott bestehn,
wenn ich zum Himmel werd eingehn.
The Blood of Christ and His Righteousness
The blood of Christ and His righteousness,
Are my glory and heavenly gown.
With them I want to face the Lord,
When I shall enter Heaven’s portal.