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WIELER - LENA "HELEN" (August 6, 1930 - July 11, 2025

When Helen entered the world, on August 6, 1930, she joined a full house: there were 11 brothers and sisters waiting to greet her, and her younger sister, Gertie, would follow shortly after. Her parents, Johan and Susanna Krahn, raised their family in the village of Rosenort; they didn’t have a lot of money, and Helen had no store-bought toys, but they were happy and there was plenty of imaginative entertainment to be found. Cutting up Eaton’s and Simpson’s catalogues with Gertie on the attic stairs, making ice slides in the winter, field days and ball games in the summer – even school was enjoyable, especially with brother George helping little Helen across 2 miles of stubbly fields. Laundry days, unfortunately, were not as fun; in winter, they were chilled to the bone, and in summer they had to outwit the dust. They would not have had a lot of outfits, but there were many bodies to clothe and cleanliness was important. Really important.

When she was 20 years old, Helen married Peter Wieler and moved to Rosenhof to live in a house Peter had built himself, of old barn lumber. In order to get married, she had to be baptized in the Sommerfelder church and recite the catechism in “high” German.  She had no understanding of what she was saying or doing, but she did it anyway. And, by her own admission, she had no idea what she was doing when it came to marriage or children or setting up house, either. Later she would be known as an exceptional cook, homemaker, and gardener – and she grew into the kind of mother/grandmother/great-grandmother that only God can form. But, at the beginning, like most of us, she was clueless.

Helen hadn’t grown up with a lot of church and Scripture, but when a revival started in Rosenhof in 1958, she and Peter attended meetings. She also took a Bible correspondence course through a program called “Back to the Bible.” And so, at some point, alone in her kitchen, she bowed her head and gave her heart to Jesus Christ – and Helen Wieler was never the same. She was a brand-new creation (2nd Corinthians 5)! From this point on, not only did she “grow up” developmentally with the children she raised, she grew up spiritually with them too. By the time Helen passed away at the age of 94, she had become a veritable “oak of righteousness” (Isaiah 61): planted by the Lord, matured in Him, and displaying his glory in every branch of her life. All who knew her could see this.

Helen and Peter raised six children – David (Margaret), Ronald (Joyce), Lorraine, Rosanne (Ron), Lois (Gordon), and Audrey (Ed) – and they lost one baby, Murray. They welcomed 22 grandchildren and spouses into their family and 71 greatgrandchildren. Helen knew every one of their names and loved each one as if there were only one to love. And to say she was adored in return is an exorbitant understatement. She was the very heart of the family.

And yet, when Helen was given the opportunity, in old age, to list the significant accomplishments in her life, she listed only one: “I surrendered my life to Christ and keep on surrendering.” Helen put God first – and because of that, her love for her family was selfless and boundless, springing from an eternal source, requiring nothing in return. She found everything she needed in her relationship with that person she’d first met in the pages of her Bible. At the age of 69, Helen was re-baptized in the Swift Current EMC Church, and this time she knew exactly what she was doing.

There’s a lot more we could say about Helen’s life. We could talk about the farming that she did with Peter for many years, and how she still, even with less mobility, loved to ride on the combine, seeder or snowmobile. We could talk about the places she lived in Swift Current after retirement, the houses full of memories of Christmas gatherings, making wareneki, and watching the Canada Day parade. (She was relieved that she didn’t have to cook anymore when she moved to the senior living, but apparently the food did not compare to her own). We could mention the job she had at the Horseshoe Lodge banquet room and the valued friends she made there (thanks for the recipes, Chef Joe). Or we could talk about her love of begonias and clean shoes, her dislike of too-small tissue boxes in the nursing home, and the way she liked to turn the music up. Family get-togethers, the extracurricular activities of great-grandchildren, Scrabble games, friends new and old – these things mattered to Helen. In truth, she was an awful lot of fun and she thoroughly enjoyed the moments and the people she was blessed with. Right up to the very end.

Her husband Peter, her baby Murray, and every one of her siblings preceded Helen into heaven. She will have quite a welcome. But the person Helen couldn’t wait to meet most was her true soulmate, the one who knew her most intimately, who formed her in her mother’s womb (Psalm 139) and sustained her to the very end of her days (Isaiah 46): her beloved Jesus. Great is his faithfulness.

The family would like to give a special thanks for the great care Helen was given by the staff at Gull Lake Special Care Home, Bentley, Clover House/Meadows and to Home Care.

A Funeral Service will be held on Friday, July 18, 2025 at 3:30 p.m. at Bridgeway Community Church. The interment will take place prior to the service at Chortitz Church Cemetery, Wymark District. Donations in memory of Helen can be made Rock Solid Refuge – Box 1622 Shaunavon, SK. S0N 2M0 or to Shareword Global - 501 Imperial Rd N, Guelph, ON N1H 6T9