Reimer, Hugo Bernhard (1920-2009)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2009 Aug 10 p. 13

Birth date: 1920 May 23

text of obituary:

HUGO BERNHARD REIMER

Hugo Bernhard Reimer, 89, of North Newton, Kan., died July 23, 2009, at Kidron-Bethel Health Care. He was born May 23, 1920, to Heinrich and Katharina (Baergen) Reimer on his family’s farm east of Inman.

He graduated from Inman High School in 1940 and entered Bethel College in North Newton that fall. After two years he was drafted during World War II. He served in Civilian Public Service camps in Weeping Willow, Neb.; Fort Collins, Colo.; Lapine, Ore.; and Norristown, Pa. He graduated from Bethel in 1948. In 1955 he earned a master of music education degree from the University of Wichita.

He married Norma Mae Tieszen on Aug. 10, 1948, in Marion, S.D.

For several years they both taught school in Hanston and Chase. They lived in Wichita for about 28 years, then moved to North Newton. He taught in public schools for 36 years, primarily in industrial arts but occasionally in music as well.

He was active in the Kansas Mennonite Men’s Chorus, serving as a regional rehearsal director. He had a secondary career as a piano tuner.

He was baptized in June 1937 in Inman Mennonite Church. He was a longtime member of Lorraine Avenue Mennonite Church during his time in Wichita, where he served at times as choir director and deacon. He was a member of Bethel College Mennonite Church since 1986.

His first wife, Norma, died in 1998. Later he met Ruth Sutter Rediger at a CPS reunion, and they were married Feb. 18, 2001.

Survivors include his wife, Ruth, of Bethesda Home in Goessel; a daughter, Roberta Rae Schmidt and her husband, Phil, of Henderson, Neb.; a son, Raymond Hubert and his wife, Rosie Epp, of Sioux Falls, S.D.; three brothers, Paul and John of Inman and Ernest of Hutchinson; three sisters, Gertrude Sigler of Derby, Sally Regier of Colwich and Mildred Rogers of Wichita; five grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; three stepchildren; multiple step-grandchildren and step-great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his first wife, Norma Mae; an infant son, Ralph Hugh; a brother, Harry; and two sisters, Emma Schierling and Ruth Wiens.

Memorial services were held at Bethel College Mennonite Church. Burial was in Hoffnungsau Mennonite Church Cemetery of rural Inman.