Wiens, Frank J. (1913-2007)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2007 Jul 30 p. 7

Birth date: 1913 Feb 23

text of obituary:

Longtime MCC worker dies at 94

By Mennonite Weekly Review staff

HILLSBORO, Kan. — Frank J. Wiens, 94, a longtime Mennonite Central Committee worker in Europe and South America, died July 12 at a Hillsboro retirement center.

Wines married Marie Klassen on Aug. 30, 1946, and they served with MCC in Germany for two years in the aftermath of World War II. There they helped establish a feeding program in Ludwigshafen and turned a community center into a church for Mennonites in Heilbronn.

The couple also helped Russian refugees secure visas to emigrate to Canada.

Wiens and his wife next served MCC in Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay, where he was the agency's country representative, living in the capital, Asuncion.

In 1965, after 18 years spent overseas, the couple moved to Hillsboro, where Wiens was public relations director for Tabor College for two years. He later became a social worker, retiring in 1980.

Wiens, a member of Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church, was born Feb. 23, 1913, at Nalgonda, India, the son of Russian MB missionaries Frank J. and Maria Heinrich Warkentin Wiens.

Amid growing unrest in Russia, the family moved to the United States in 1914, settling in Reedley, Calif., in 1920.

From 1945 to 1947, Wiens was an administrator at Pacific Bible Institute, now Fresno (Calif.) Pacific University.

Survivors include his wife; a son, Glenn of Wichita; three daughters, Rebecca Penner of Wichita, Marcia LaJeunesse of Boulder, Colo., and Miriam Holmes of Louisville, Colo.; 10 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

The funeral was held July 20 at Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church.

Memorials may be made to Tabor College or MCC.