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Helen Falk Wiebe born 1924 in Steinfeld, Russia
Peter and Maria Falk - Helen's Parents and FamilY
Mother holding Helen and Marie standing beside her.
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My father Peter Falk was a widower with two daughters and three sons when he married my mother Maria Penner in Osterwick. Their daughter Marie died at one year of age, before my birth. I was born in Steinfeld, Sagradowka Colony, Russia. My Father had Typhus and died when I was ten months old and sister Anna died of Typhus when she was twelve. My mother survived. We were able to pay our way to Canada. Our family, except for my oldest half-brother Frank and sister Margaret, came to Canada in 1925. Frank came in 1929. My sister came to Canada later with the grandparents and stayed in Germany for a while. We came to a Wiebe family in Manitoba, then moved to Gretna, Manitoba where I remember sleeping in a little yellow-coloured wooden bed. Before I was three years old, I recall seeing a long table covered with a white tablecloth. I became excited when I saw dishes filled with sugar cubes on that table! I believe the occasion might have been the second marriage of my mother, of which I remember nothing more. We spoke Low German in our home, but when it was time to start Sunday School, we needed to speak High German. My Stepfather, George Matthies, had us four children read one High German calendar page by turn every evening to acquaint us with the German language. When I was five years old, in 1929, we moved to Vineland, Ontario. Here the Mennonite Brethren and the General Conference churches worshipped together. My Sunday School teacher was Mrs. Fransen. My elementary school teacher was Mrs. Lindsay. Our Vineland house still stands in 2008. Our next move took us to the Kulp family who had a small farm which my Stepfather worked on. Down the road was a store where Mother sent Erna and I to buy cocoa one day. By the time we got to the store, we'd forgotten what we'd come for, so the clerk sold us tobacco. Mom sent us back to the store with the tobacco and we got what Mother wanted. Then we moved to Main Street of Vineland. Here the Mennonite Brethren and Mennonite people worshipped together. Dad was a Sunday School teacher and his class of girls embroidered a bedspread for my parents. I finished grade one in Vineland and then we moved near the lake where we lived with Isbrand and Vera Margaret Janzen; then we moved to the Jim Creelman farm. Dad did the farm work and Mr. Creelman worked for the government. There we attended the Beamsville Church which was within walking distance in town with stores close by. My Sunday School teacher was Ellie Redekop. After several years, Erna and I earned money babysitting and we wanted our Stepfather to buy a pink butter dish with our wages. He obliged but I'm sure it cost more money than we had given him. I remember attending Daily Vacation Bible School in Vineland where we were taught about the Life of Christ. We lived in Vineland until I was almost 13, and Stepfather, who still worked at Creelmans, fell off a high ladder there one day while picking fruit. He was delirious for three hours. The doctor came and said that he would gradually lose his mind. Our Stepfather died in about 1949. Our next move took us to the town of Virgil where I finished elementary school. We children worked for Rev. John Dyck who had earlier lived on Pelee Island. They were a kind family and had one daughter, Mary. We picked strawberries and raspberries, started tomato plants and hoed the crops. I was 14 at the time and we rested at the end of each row. At this time my brother John rode his bike to Niagara-on-the-lake High School every day, winter and summer. I was pleased to get work at Lightning Fastener in St. Catharines during the War. I had friends there. Later I got work at the Yale and Towne factory where they manufactured locks. I needed to place a thimble on the plate and press down with my foot.
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Henry and I met at church. He, along with a group of other young Mennonite men, spent time up north as Conscientious Objectors. We were engaged in 1945 and in 1946, we were married in the Virgil Mennonite Brethren Church by my Uncle John Penner. Other pastors there were Rev. Klassen, Rev. Block, Rev. John Dyck and Rev. Derksen. Henry worked on farms and in a store in Niagara Falls, and we lived on Abe Wiebe's farm. Then we moved to Leamington where sister Erna, Helen Schmidt and Rudy Hamm lived. We attended church on Elliot Street where our pastors were Rev. Isaac Thiessen and Rev. Derksen. We lived upstairs in John and Helen Dyck's farmhouse between Leamington and Wheatley. Our son Rudy was born in the Hopewell Hospital in Leamington during this time. The doctors there were Dr. Lyon, Dr. Setterington, Dr. Froese and Dr. Bruner. During my five-day stay in the hospital, Henry moved our belongings to Agatha Nickel's home on Princess Street of Leamington. We had our mother with us at that time. At Miss Nickel's we had a living room, kitchen, two small bedrooms, and part of the basement. Next our family moved near the lake in the Seacliff Park area for one year. Henry and I worked at the Heinz Company where he got his second class engineering papers and Mother took care of our two children. Then we moved to brother Abe and Agnes' place near Wheatley. It was a big farm with greenhouses and 50 acres. Here we lived and worked for two years. Our daughter Cathy was born here. In 1951 we bought the 10 acre farm on Bruner Road. Here we lived for seven years in the old house, then built a new house where we lived for 45 years. We grew early cabbage, potatoes and tomatoes and sometimes onions and late tomatoes. By now we had three daughters and four sons and good neighbours. Henry built a factory with four other men which was quite successful. He worked at Pyramid Canners for several years, and then at Chryslers in Windsor for 21 years. He also gave tours to friends and relatives. Henry injured his left side at the workplace and suffered a stroke some time later. We sold the farm in 2003 and Henry was admitted to the Leamington Mennonite Home. Here he receives excellent care and I enjoy life at the Gardens, just five minutes away. AK 2008
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