Wiens, Norma Bachman (1933-2012)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2012 Feb 6 p. 11

Birth date: 1933 Jun 7

text of obituary:

Missionary to India, GC board member, peace advocate dies

By Andrew Clouse

Mennonite Mission Network

NEWTON, Kan. — Norma Wiens' life took her from the plains of Kansas to the mountains of India and back again.

Wiens, an eight-year mission worker to India with the Commission on Overseas Mission — a predecessor agency of Mennonite Mission Network — died Jan. 10 at Kidron Bethel Healthcare after suffering from Alzheimer's for nearly seven years. She was 78.

Norma was born June 7, 1933, to Otto and Ella (Sperling) Bachman. She met her husband, J. Wendell Wiens, while they were students at Bethel College in North Newton. They were married a week after graduation on May 31, 1955, and moved to Kansas City, where they helped plant Rainbow Avenue Mennonite Church.

After 10 years in Kansas City, the Wienses headed to the rural outpost of Jagdeeshpur, where Wendell worked as a surgeon at Sewa Bhawan Hospital.

Wendell said Norma was a devoted mother and spouse who was so adept at organizing people around activities and causes, "she may even be attempting to organize the events in God's presence."

In India, Wiens filled in as teacher, bookkeeper, Bible study leader and translator and member of many committees, including the school board of Woodstock School, the boarding school her two children, Annelle and David, attended.

The two were the last American mission workers at the Sewa Bhawan Hospital, which was handed over to local leadership when they left in 1973.

Homer and Gredi Janzen, who now live in Steinbach, Man., served in India at the same time as the Wienses. Gredi said Norma Wiens had a heart for raising up leadership from within her small community, including one boy who came from the poorest caste. Norma mentored him in music and faith. He eventually graduated from the Yeotmal Biblical Seminary and into church leadership.

The Wienses moved to Moundridge and then settled back in Newton after leaving India in 1973. They became members of Faith Mennonite Church, and she worked as a secretary for Western District Conference and served as secretary and a member of the General Conference Mennonite Church board three times between 1980 and 2001.

She was active in peace advocacy. She helped found the Newton Area Peace Center — now Peace Connections — in 1982.

Wendell Wiens jokingly points out that Norma had a criminal record. She and other demonstrators were arrested after crossing onto the property at Wichita's McConnell Air Force Base to protest the atomic weapons stored there.

Wiens was also part of a group of self-described "peaceniks" who held silent protests as the "white trains" carrying nuclear warheads passed through Kansas. When a train would pass, observers would place calls through a phone tree to others along the train's route. When Wiens received the call, she and others from the community would stand at the crossing in silent protest as the train passed through town.

Wiens had compassion for those who suffered. She was part of a group of Newton people who helped Central American refugees find passage to Canada, sometimes housing them for months in her home.

She is survived by her husband, J. Wendell Wiens, of Newton; a daughter, Annelle, and her husband, Tom Claassen, of Salina; a son, David Wiens, and his wife, Erin, of Tigard, Ore.; a sister, Carolyn Voran, of North Newton; and a brother, Gene Bachman, of Moundridge; and four grandchildren. She was preceded in death by a sister, Kathleen Schroeder.