Editing Regier, Rosella Ruth Wiens (1933-2022)

''Harvey County Now'' obituary: 2002 Jun 9 p. B7

Birth date: 2 Dec 1933

Text of obituary:

'''Rosella Ruth Wiens Regier'''

Rosella Ruth Wiens
Regier, 88, passed away
peacefully on May 31,
2022. She was born Dec.
2, 1933, the 12th of 13
children of Henry W.
and Anna Enns Wiens.

Her first years were
spent on the family 80-
acre farm southeast of
Inman. The Depression
had taken its toll. But,
Rosella grew up in a
family where the
mantra seemed to go
something like this:
“Times are hard. Winter
is coming. Economize.
Scrimp. Save. Work
hard. Help each other.
And have fun doing it
all!”

Rosella graduated
from high school at Cen
tral Kansas Bible Acad
emy in Hutchinson.
From an early age, she
wanted to be a teacher.
She took on her first
teaching job at the rural
Turkey Creek School
near Inman in 1956.
After graduating from
Bethel College in North
Newton in 1958, her
public school teaching
took her to classrooms in
Indiana and Mississippi,
as well as Newton and
Walton in Kansas.

In 1957, Rosella married Harold Regier. To
gether, they spent the
‘60s in Gulfport, Miss.,
in a mission-service as
signment working in an
African-American set
ting. There, she was in
volved with a variety of
ministries, including the
role of Summer Bible
School superintendent,
supervising volunteers
who taught as many as
1,000 students in sum
mer sessions. Other in
volvements included
teaching youth in winter
Bible classes, helping
create a community li
brary, facilitating a
“Fresh Air” program,
teaching Head Start and
finally teaching public
school during the first
year of school integra
tion in Mississippi when
racial tensions were
running high.

While in Mississippi,
Rosella became the
mother of two children,
Steven Douglas in 1965
and Sharon Janelle in
1967. Returning to New
ton in 1970, Rosella con
centrated on family life,
soon balancing this with
returning to the class
room. In the Newton
system, she taught at
Northridge, Suncrest
and Walton.

Rosella’s love for
teaching and of children
led her from the public
school classroom to the
Christian nurture of
children in the church
setting. In 1984, she was
invited to become the di
rector of Children’s Min
istry for the General
Conference Mennonite
Church. In this role.
Rosella led teacher
workshops and provided
congregational resources
for children’s Christian
education across the
United States and
Canada.

In 1990, the Anabap
tist Curriculum Publish
ing Council invited
Rosella to be the execu
tive director of a new
children’s curriculum for
sx Anabaptist denomi
nations. The project, de
veloping and publishing
the new curriculum, “Ju
bilee: God’s Good
News,” was a two year
rotation of Biblical stud
ies designed for four lev
els: early childhood,
primary, middlers and
Junior youth. The cur
riculum was used 1994-
2006, a long life for Sun
day School curricula.

Retiring in 1999,
Rosella continued her
Christian education ca
reer as a presenter and
workshop leader for the
national body of the
Church of the Brethren,
based in Elgin, Ill. For
three more years, she
traveled to congrega
tions and districts across
the United States with
sermons, workshops and
seminars on the general
theme of the care and
Christian nurture of
children.

In retirement, Rosella
stayed very active in a
local church and commu
nity leadership. Church
leadership included such
roles as church modera
tor, chair of the 50th an
niversary celebrations
planning committee for
Faith Mennonite
Church, president of
mission circle and mem
ber of church council. At
the district level, she
served as a member of
the Western District
Conference “Vision
2012” steering commit
tee and prayer partner
coordinator. For more
than 10 years, she
served as a facilitator of
a sexual abuse women’s
support group. In 2009,
she was selected as one
of three Newton women
honored as “Woman of
the Year.”

A significant role dur
ing retirement years has
also been that of a
grandmother. Rosella
nurtured a relationship
with grandchildren that
was reminiscent of her
life’s career of nurturing
children in both public
school and church set
tings. Her grandchil
dren in her retirement
years were her pride
and joy.

In 2009, Rosella suf
fered a devastating
stroke that left her with
acute aphasia. Robbed of
words to communicate
her thoughts, she
painted some 250 pic
tures to tell her stories.
Then, with stories cast
into an “aphasia-friendly
reading” format, she was
able to articulate a few
words to participate in a
co-reader technique that
enabled her to tell some
of her own stories. This
gave her much satisfac
tion, making it possible
for a pre-stroke storyteller
to be a post-stroke
storyteller.

Rosella was preceded
in death by her parents,
H.W. and Anna Enns
Wiens, and her siblings
Nick, Leonard, Simon,
Adolph, Eva (Ruben
Wedel), Mary (Bill
Goossen), Esther (Walt
Juhnke), Anna Grace
Wiens and four siblings
who died in infancy.

Survivors include her
husband, Harold, son
Steve (Marilyn), daugh
ter Sharon and grand
children Madeline
Regier, Drake Regier
and Claire Schultz.

Memorial service was
at 4 p.m., Saturday,
June 4, at Faith Men
nonite Church in New
ton. Private family
interment will take
place at a later date.

Memorials can be
made to “Spring Forth,”
a Sunday School cur
riculum, or Kidron
Bethel Village. Contri
butions can be mailed to
Faith Mennonite
Church, 2100 N. Ander
son Ave., Newton, Kan.,
67114. Petersen Family
Funeral Home in New
ton is in charge of
arrangements.

[[Category: Harvey County Now obituaries]]