Obituary of Agnes Janz

Agnes Janz (nee Bueckert) passed away March 25, 2020, at the age of 96, at Rest Haven Nursing Home in Steinbach, Manitoba.

She was born to the late Franz and Helena Bueckert on June 9, 1923 in Cuauhtemoc, State of Chihuahua, Mexico.  The family moved to Canada in March of 1930 when Agnes was seven years old.  For the next eleven years the Bueckerts lived in a total of five different farming communities in Saskatchewan, arriving finally in Steinbach, Manitoba in 1941.  Two years later, when the family moved to British Columbia, the twenty-year-old Agnes remained behind.  She had a job, and more importantly, she had met Alvin Janz.  She was a lifelong member of the Steinbach EMB/Cornerstone Church.  Her personal faith was sincere, gentle, tolerant, and inclusive.

Agnes and Alvin married on October 27, 1945.  They raised a family of four boys, and then shared a happy retirement after 1986.  During this time they travelled often, mostly to visit family.  For years, while living at Fernwood Place (2001-2015), she and Alvin could be seen on their daily walks around town, often holding hands.  She was known for her extraordinary kindness to the less fortunate, those who were ill, and the bereaved: many a Steinbach family in such circumstances received a pot of her delicious soup, delivered by Alvin.  One of her favorite ways of showing love for people was to feed them.  In 2015, complications associated with her osteoporosis put her in Bethesda Hospital, and a year later she was moved to Rest Haven Nursing Home.  To the end of her life, she bore her gradual decline and suffering with patience and good humour.

She was predeceased by her parents Franz (1977) and Helena (1996), by her brothers Carl, Henry, Frank, and Peter, and her sister Sue.  Her husband Alvin passed away in 2015.

Agnes is survived by her sons: Donald (and Oksana), Denis (and Jan), Philip (and Trish), Jonathan (and Rose).  She had six grandchildren: Christopher (and Shruti), David (and Nicole), Nicola (and Matt), Scott (and Amy), Yuriy (and Michelle), Danielle (and Jeremy); and seven great grandchildren: Levi, Annie, Maggie, Abby, Solomia, Asher, and Cohen.

Almost as though in recompense for her own exceptional kindness, Agnes was also the recipient of an abundance of kindness in her last years.  In this  regard,  our family would like to name Rest Haven Chaplain Peter Berg, volunteer music organizer Brigitte Bestvater, and in fact the entire Rest Haven staff, Rose Janz (nee Hiebert), Sue Hiebert, and Kristin Rutledge.

All of us, her sons and her husband, thought she was truly beautiful.  We admired her intelligence and independence, and how she made decisions for herself to the very end.  She had her “boys” and her husband wrapped around her finger till she breathed her last.  We all thought she loved us the best.  It’s what she would have wanted us to believe, and she did indeed love us all the best.  We miss her already.

A private family service will be held at a later date with interment at Heritage Cemetery, Steinbach, MB. 

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Haven Foundation Group or to MCC.