Wiens, Agnes Harder (1884-1951)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 30 Aug 1951 p. 1

Birth date: 1884

text of obituary:

Two Missionaries Called Away in Death MRS. AGNES WIENS & MRS. CHRISTIAN KLIEWER SERVED IN INDIA & OKLAHOMA

Two widely known retired missionaries died here within the period of a week when Mrs. Agnes Harder Wiens, 67, wife of the late Rev. P. J. Wiens, and Mrs. Christina Horsch Kliewer, 76, wife of the late Rev. H. J. Kliewer, were called to their eternal reward.

Mrs. Wiens, a missionary in India with her husband for over 31 years, died Friday, Aug. 17. Mrs. Kliewer died Saturday, Aug. 25. She and her husband had been missionaries among the Cheyenne Indians in Oklahoma for over 40 years. The two retired workers spent their last years in the Bethel Home for the Aged.

Funeral services for Mrs. Wiens were held at 10 a.m., Aug. 20, at the First Mennonite church, in charge of Dr. J. H. Langenwalter, who was assisted by Rev. D. J. Unruh and Rev. S. J. Goering. Dr. Langenwalter also conducted the services for Mrs. Kliewer held at 10 a.m., Aug. 27, in the chapel of the Bethel Home for the Aged. Both were laid to their final earthly resting place in Greenwood cemetery.

Further details of the two eventful and consecrated Christian lives will be given in the obituaries to be published next week.

6 Sep 1951 p. 9

AGNES HARDER WIENS

Agnes Harder Wiens, daughter of Abraham and Anna Fast Harder, was born in Alexanderwohl, Molotschna Colony, South Russia, on January 24, 1884. At an early age she became interested in mission work and gave her heart to Jesus.

After attending schools in Russia, she came to America at the age of seventeen to continue her education by attending Bethel College. Later she entered nurses’ training at Cincinnati, Ohio.

This preparation for her chosen field, missionary work, was terminated by the sudden need of additional missionaries in India. On February 14, 1906, she was married to Peter Jacob Wiens, whom she had met at Bethel College. They proceeded to India soon afterward.

Here she spent over 31 years in the service of her beloved Lord and Savior. It was her great joy to minister to the sick, to mother and train many orphan boys, to organize and teach in Sunday school, to direct the work of Bible women, and to spread the glad tidings of salvation at home and in the wider fields reached during evangelistic tours. Besides all this outside work, she faithfully succeeded in being a loving mother to her five children as well as a loving wife.

In 1937 she and her husband came to the United States and made their home in Newton as ill health prevented their return to India. She continued to stimulate mission interest by talking to groups and visiting the churches. Several years after the death of her husband in 1945, she entered the Bethel Home for the Aged.

On August 17, 1951, at the Bethel hospital, she quietly fell asleep, after having suffered patiently for several years from a lingering illness.

Besides her many friends here and in India she leaves to mourn her passing her five children. Ferdinand J. Wiens of Portland, Oregon; Rudolph P. Wiens of the World Service staff of the International Committee of Y.M.C.A.’s of North America; Mrs. Robert (Agnes) Willis of Upland, California; Mrs. Dan (Frieda) Epp and Mrs. Galen (Martha) Koehn of North Newton, Kansas; 12 grandchildren and one sister, Mrs. J. J. Dick of Abbotsford, British Columbia.

During her later years she often remarked that if she had another life to live, it would again be given to God in missionary service.