Jacob “Berliner” Kehler never lived to see this, but perhaps would have been proud to see such beautiful offspring featured in The Carillon News….
Category: Kehler Klippings
Kehler Klippings of the Berliner Clan
Dig around in your attic, and you will be sure to find old newspaper clippings that bring us to fond memories of the past. Recently, we found some clippings, articles and pictures that relate to the Berliner Kehler clan. This website is a great place to showcase memories. Email your clippings to us, for consideration and publication on this website, by sending your email and attachments to the Webmaster. Let’s have some fun! Watch for more memories, that will be posted right here!
Operator Honored on Anniversary
Today, we honor a Berliner Kehler who was featured in The Carillon News — any guess what year this picture was taken of Jacob Stoesz Kehler and son Wayne? The Husky Station, since 1955, is still operating at the same corner! For more information, visit JakesHusky.com.
Look Homeward, Nomi: Misreading a Novel as Social History
When Thomas Wolfe set his strongly autobiographical novel Look Homeward, Angel (1929) in Asheville, North Carolina, his scathing portrayal of his hometown brought a public outcry so severe—he was even threatened with death—that he didn’t dare return to it for seven years. One would not expect responses to a Mennonite novel to be that violent, but Rudy Wiebe’s first novel Peace Shall Destroy Many (1962), which exposed some of the sacred cows of institutionalized Mennonitism, raised a storm that forced him to resign as editor of the Mennonite Brethren Herald in Winnipeg and gave him to understand he was no longer welcome in the community.
by Al Reimer
When Thomas Wolfe set his strongly autobiographical novel Look Homeward, Angel (1929) in Asheville, North Carolina, his scathing portrayal of his hometown brought a public outcry so severe—he was even threatened with death—that he didn’t dare return to it for seven years. One would not expect responses to a Mennonite novel to be that violent, but Rudy Wiebe’s first novel Peace Shall Destroy Many (1962), which exposed some of the sacred cows of institutionalized Mennonitism, raised a storm that forced him to resign as editor of the Mennonite Brethren Herald in Winnipeg and gave him to understand he was no longer welcome in the community.
Nothing that drastic has happened to Miriam Toews, whose boldly satiric novel A Complicated Kindness is set in East Village, a fictional version of Steinbach, Manitoba. This highly acclaimed work has won Canada’s prestigious Governor General’s Literary Award and other prizes, is still on Canadian best-seller lists a year after publication and has been published to rave reviews in the U. S. and Britain. This “Mennonite” novel obviously enjoys a wide appeal among non-Mennonite readers and critics, but has raised the hackles of some Mennonite readers who know the Steinbach community and see the novel as a vicious attack against the town and, even more importantly, against the very principles of Mennonite faith and practice. Continue reading “Look Homeward, Nomi: Misreading a Novel as Social History”
Growing Up and Down in Steinbach
When Del Plett suggested I talk about growing up in Steinbach, I thought it would be an easy and enjoyable talk to prepare. With so many memories and materials to draw on, however, it wasn’t easy to decided what to include and what to leave out. Del had one other suggestion. “We want the Kehler side of your personality”, he said, “not the Reimer side.” I knew what he meant, of course. He wanted me to be lively and funny like my eight Kehler uncles, tell outrageous stories (Schnetteriete) and get you all rolling in the aisles.
By Al Reimer
When Del Plett suggested I talk about growing up in Steinbach, I thought it would be an easy and enjoyable talk to prepare. With so many memories and materials to draw on, however, it wasn’t easy to decided what to include and what to leave out. Del had one other suggestion. “We want the Kehler side of your personality”, he said, “not the Reimer side.” I knew what he meant, of course. He wanted me to be lively and funny like my eight Kehler uncles, tell outrageous stories (Schnetteriete) and get you all rolling in the aisles.
The trouble is I’m not as funny as my Kehler uncles were (maybe there’s too much sober Reimer in me) and, also, they told their hilarious stories in private and opp Plautdietsch. So far as I know, none of them ever made a public speech, while I’m addressing a large, sophisticated audience and have to do it in English, which for a Mennonite of my generation is not nearly as good a language to be funny in as Low German is.
Read the rest of this article (in PDF), as published in Preservings, No.21, December 2002
A Personal Memory: Elisabeth Schultz Kehler (1866-1943)
by Al Reimer
Introduction.
The movements of history, as lived by human beings, are not neatly divided into hundred-year calendar segments called centuries, but run in uncontrolled waves like the sea, lapping at and overlapping each other. The Mennonite generation of my Grandma Kehler was in all essentials a nineteenth-century generation even though she and others like her lived well into the twentieth century.
Mennonite women of her generation lived utterly private domestic lives for the most part, spoke only Plautdietsch but also understood primitive church German, were schooled to suffer in silence, were endlessly resourceful in rearing their large families, including the inculcation of moral, ethical and spiritual values, and were unquestioningly devoted to their church and faith. They did not vote, were hardly aware that government existed, read only the German Bible and perhaps the Steinbach Post and had no direct contact with the “English” world outside the narrow confines of village, farm and community. Continue reading “A Personal Memory: Elisabeth Schultz Kehler (1866-1943)”
A Tribute to Al Reimer on his “Retirement”
as printed in the Journal of Mennonite Studies Vol. 9, 1991
Readers of this journal are well acquainted with the writings of Al Reimer. In addition to contributing a number of articles on Mennonite literature – his fifth appears in this issue – he has been a member of the Journal’s editorial committee since its inception in 1983 and has evaluated and edited a large number of the papers that have been accepted for publication. Because of this important role, and his larger literary contribution to the Mennonite community, he was recently invited to be co-editor of the Journal. Continue reading “A Tribute to Al Reimer on his “Retirement””
Heroism Consists of Hanging on One Minute Longer
Syd Reimer and his brother-in-law Norm Wiens, like many other inhabitants of the Red River Valley, have just been through one the most harrowing months of their lives. The two are long-time residents of Rosenort, a Mennonite village on the Morris River 10 miles northwest of Morris.
by P.J.B. Reimer
Syd Reimer and his brother-in-law Norm Wiens, like many other inhabitants of the Red River Valley, have just been through one the most harrowing months of their lives. The two are long-time residents of Rosenort, a Mennonite village on the Morris River 10 miles northwest of Morris.
Syd Reimer is a volunteer supervisor with the Mennonite Disaster Service and has had wide experience with floods and disaster cleanup. As a local councillor, Norm Wiens was one of the men in charge of organizing thousands of volunteer workers into efficient work parties in the fight against a flood that proved to be as serious as the Big One of 1950. For the first 10 days of the flood, Norm was away from his flood duties for a total of 21 hours, and not even all of that time was spent in bed.
Read the rest of this article (in PDF), as published in Mennonite Mirror, June 1979.
Manitoba Couple Wed in Ontario
In Victoria Square United Church at Gormley, Ontario, November 17 at 7:15 pm, Joan Doreen, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Frederick of Pine Falls, Man., became the bride of Elmer E. Reimer, son of Rev. and Mrs. P.J.B. Reimer of Rosenort, Man.
Winnipeg Free Press Monday, November 26, 1951 Page-16
In Victoria Square United Church at Gormley, Ontario, November 17 at 7:15 pm, Joan Doreen, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Frederick of Pine Falls, Man., became the bride of Elmer E. Reimer, son of Rev. and Mrs. P.J.B. Reimer of Rosenort, Man. Rev. A.C. Houston officiated and the wedding music was played by Miss Carol Perkins. Soloist was Mrs. Allan Orr.
The bride wore a suit of taupe gabardine with Kelly green felt bonnet, the crown covered by a netting of brown, forming a semi-veil at the back. Her corsage was of deep red roses centered on white ostrich plumes. Mrs. K. Vogt, attend the bride and Ernest Vogt was the best man.
Mr. and Mrs. Reimer will reside at 15 Ravina Crescent, Toronto, Ontario.