Obituary of John L. Plett

On Friday, May 3, 2024, with his family by his side, Dad passed peacefully, at Rest Haven Care Home, Steinbach, MB., reaching the age of 98 years and 40 days. Dad is forever loved and at peace in his heavenly home; his heart and his mind are at rest at last.

John Loewen Plett was born on March 23, 1926 to Elizabeth and Peter Plett in his family home of   Blumenort, RM of Hanover, Manitoba. His great-grandparents emigrated to Manitoba from Russia in 1875 and founded the village of Blumenhof. John was fourth in a line of 10 children, three of whom passed away in infancy.

John attended school in Blumenort until the age of 14. It was recess time and physical labour that he enjoyed. At a young age, he helped with all of the farm chores and came to love the horses as much as they loved him.

Dad was baptized into the church in 1944 at the age of 18. Church involvement remained as one of his main priorities for his lifetime. Dad was summoned to court to register his conscientious objector status, so that he could stay home from the world war and help on the farm instead. He also manually dug holes to place the new telephone poles for MTS.

During the slow seasons on the farm, Dad worked away from home, working at jobs including brick-making, threshing, logging, and egg-grading.

At the age of 23, Dad married our Mom, Annie Klassen on July 31, 1949. They started off their farm with two cows, two horses and breeder hens, and later went into turkey hens, and then turkey toms, beef cattle, steers and grain-farming.  Dad planted hedges of trees on the farm and trained horses as a hobby. Dad and Mom were married for 70 years and had four sons and three daughters.

Dad planned many family road trips, and he also travelled to volunteer his  services: filling sandbags for flood relief, teaching DVBS, working at Eagle Lake Bible Camp, helping with disaster relief in two US states and the Bahamas, building a Bible camp in Nicaragua, and singing with the Singing Grampas for 30 years.

Dad was predeceased by our Mom in 2019, his father Peter (1989), his mother Elizabeth (1993), sister Helena (1924), sister Elma (1925), brother Menno (1931), sister Margaret (2013), grandson Daniel (2014), son Lawrence (2015) and son-in-law Menno (2019).  Dad is survived by five siblings Helen, Mary, Betty, Adina and David, six children, 14 grandchildren, 30 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandson.

The funeral service will be held on Saturday, May 11, 2024, at 11:00 a.m., at Birchwood Funeral Chapel, Steinbach, MB., with viewing prior to the service. To join the family via livestream, please click HERE shortly before the time of the service. 

The interment will take place at Blumenort Community Church Cemetery, Blumenort, MB.