Fast, Margarita Penner (1907-2002)

"Mennonite Brethren Herald" obituary: 2003 Feb 7 p. 19

Birth date: 1907 Feb 20

text of obituary:

MARGARITA FAST

Margarita (Rita) Fast passed away Nov. 22. She was born Feb. 20, 1907 to Kornelius and Agnetha Penner in Orenburg, Russia. In 1908, the family moved to Alexandrovka, Slavgorod, Siberia. Her mother was injured in a fall and after long suffering died in 1914. Her father remarried 2 years later. In 1922 her father died of typhus. At 15, she decided for Christ, was baptized and joined the MB church. Her sister married and took over the family farm; Rita stayed with them. In 1929, they went to Moscow to immigrate to Canada but were sent back to Siberia. In 1931 she married Jakob Fast. They moved to Minsk. She borrowed a sewing machine and began sewing for other people. They worshipped with Russian Christians. Jakob worked in a glass factory, but often was not paid; he was arrested July 6, 1938 and sent to northern Russia, where he died of starvation in April 1942. She sold as much as she could and sewed for customers to support her 5 children. She was arrested May 10, 1939. Released 8 years later, she could not find her family. She settled with 4 other women in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, fellowshipped at a Russian Baptist church and found work in a hospital. Eventually she learned that Jakob had died, found daughter Frieda in an orphanage in Orenburg and learned 3 daughters had immigrated to Canada in 1948, but she never found youngest son David. She depended on God. She came to Vancouver in 1968. She worked as a homemaker and lived in a basement suite. In 1976 she moved to a condo in Clearbrook, B.C. She joined Clearbrook MB Church. For 15 years, her life was filled with sewing and crocheting blankets for MCC. Her last years were spent in Tabor Home. She longed to go home. She is mourned by daughters Frieda Maerz of Germany and Olga Schwabi of Vancouver; and grandchildren. The memorial service was Nov. 27 in Clearbrook MB Church, with Walter Wiens and Heinz Ratzlaff ministering.