Obituary of Werner Gerhard Warkentin

Werner Gerhard Warkentin passed away peacefully on Monday, February 19, 2024 at the Menno Home for the Aged, Grunthal, MB.

Werner is survived by his children; Brian (Elena), Gary (Sherry), Albert (Lua) and Karen (Glenn), 22 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren and was predeceased by one great-grandchild. He is also survived by brother Peter (Lisa), sisters Marlies Thiessen and Hedy Friesen, sisters-in-law Erna and Ursula, and their families.

He was predeceased by his parents, David and Margaretha (Thiessen), four brothers, David and his wife Anne, John, Jacob (in infancy) and Alfred, and two sisters, Margaret and Irene, and brothers-in-law Peter Thiessen and John Friesen.  

Werner got engaged to Helen Epp, his high school sweetheart, on Valentine’s Day, 1959, and subsequently married in Grunthal on June 14, 1959 and took over the Warkentin family farm. Dairy farming is a challenging vocation and add to that four children who were active in many after school activities and you can imagine how busy the ensuing years were.

In 1991, they moved to a new home that they built on another part of the acreage. Dad continued to work on the farm, milking regularly until 2022 and was looking forward to working the fields again in the spring of 2023.

Dad always had a keen interest in many sports, especially baseball (which he played competitively as a young man) as well as football, hockey (he coached a minor hockey team for years) and curling, a sport he took up in his later years. He was also passionate about politics and world affairs. If you expected to get into a discussion with him on this, you needed to make sure you had set aside some time.

Dad loved hearing and re-telling a good joke and enjoyed making people laugh. He was also a dedicated volunteer who served on the board of the local Credit Union for several terms as well as the Manitoba Electoral Boundary Commission for a time. He also spent many years on the Board of the Elim Mennonite Church as well as serving as a “Vorsänger” (song leader) and lending his baritone voice to many choirs and men’s groups over the years.

He actively cared and advocated for Mom who struggled with a series of health challenges for much of the last 40 years of her life. Her death in July of 2018 affected him deeply and he admitted it was something that he never fully recovered from.

He went from being very active to being in need of constant care after his fall on March 14, 2023 and found this to be a very difficult life change. Special thanks to the staff at the Menno Home and the De Salaberry Health Centre who cared for Dad for the last 11 months of his life. Sincere appreciation to friends and especially Pastor Norm Voth who came to visit Dad.

The memorial service will be held on Monday, February 26, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. at the Elim Mennonite Church, Grunthal, MB., with a private family interment at Grunthal Cemetery. To join the family via zoom please click HERE shortly before the service.  

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to CancerCare Manitoba.