SUSAN ENNS

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SUSAN ENNS Susan Enns (born Susannah Kornelius Penner) passed away peacefully on Sunday (November 22, 2015) at the Bethesda Regional Health Centre in Steinbach, aged 92 years. Mom was born on May 10, 1923, in the village of Petrowka, in the Voronezh region of Russia. She was the youngest of the 13 children of Kornelius Heinrich Penner and Katharina Bergen. Mom was three years old when she and her mother and four of her siblings, Margaret, Mary, Kornelius and Agnetha, boarded the Empress of Scotland on September 6, 1926, and sailed to Quebec, from where they took the train to Winnipeg. They would eventually settle in the Langside area, near Arnaud, Manitoba. Mom had many fond memories of life on the farm at Langside and of life at the Langside School, which she attended through Grade 8. One of her great regrets in life (and one of the very few things of which she spoke resentfully) was that she was not given the opportunity of furthering her education, it being felt that her skills could be put to better use milking cows and helping her brother Martin with the field work. So when she met her husband, George Enns, who farmed in the Newton Siding area, she was ideally qualified to do all that farming life entailed. She married our father on June 27, 1948. They had planned to have their own children, but that was not to be. Instead, within seven years between 1952-1959, our parents adopted five of us, offering us a stable and loving home on the farm. But this was all to be cut short in 1963, when our Father died suddenly in a farming accident. Mom decided to move back to Arnaud, where she had the support of her wonderful family, who made sure we were never wanting for anything. And, fortuitously, Mom secured the job of Postmistress, which she held for 26 years, until retirement. So, though it was not exactly the career Mom might have chosen had she been able to get more education, it paid the bills and made her self-sufficient. It was a matter of pride that she did not take any government assistance. Her philosophy was "Be prepared to work as hard as you need to and live within your means". With her small income and her large garden, she was able to provide all that the family needed to live quite comfortably. Her glass was always half full so enough was simply good enough. Mom has always been a worker, never shying away from what needed doing. As well as tending to the Post Office and raising five children, she also took on the job of cleaning the church, which became her way of tithing; she never saw a low income as an excuse not to tithe. On her retirement, Mom continued to have a large garden and simply gave away any excess crop, feeling the land should not lay idle. She also took on a number of hobbies, which included painting and a variety of arts and crafts, and helped out relatives and neighbours with babysitting. She was apparently a babysitter extraordinaire. She has also always been diligent in keeping herself fit, through jogging or walking and going through a daily regime of exercises. She would often say, "I don't get as sick as most people" and would make a point of making sure she didn't. Even after moving into Supportive Living at Grunthal, she continued to enjoy her daily walk (when health and weather permitted), with assistance from a kind volunteer from the Elim Mennonite Church, who became a good friend. Mother was predeceased by both parents and all of her siblings. She is survived by one sister-in-law, Anna Penner (Ed), and her children Walter (Pauline), Laura (Eric), Gerald (Ruth), Lorna and Marianne (Marvin), nine grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren. The family would like to thank the staff of the Supportive Living Unit at the Greendale Estates for the wonderful care they provided during her stay there. The funeral service will be held at the Arnaud Mennonite Church at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, November 30, followed by lunch, sharing and a private burial. A viewing will be held from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 29, at Friends Funeral Service, 2146 Main Street, Winnipeg, with a devotional at 7:15 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Arnaud Mennonite Church.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Nov 28, 2015