Reimer, Jacob C. (1879-1972)

Mennonite Brethren Herald obituary: 1972 Jan 23 p. 31

Birth date: 1879 Oct 26

text of obituary:

JACOB C. REIMER

Jakob C. Reimer of Sardis, B.C. was born on October 26, 1879, the third child of Cornelius J. and Catharina Reimer (nee Isaac) in Blumenau, in the Ukraine. In 1880 his parents took part in the founding of a small village named Wiesenfeld, where he received his elementary education. He loved to learn and was later sent to a secondary school in Orloff. While he was a student at this latter school, he accepted the Lord as his personal Saviour. Later he was baptized and became a member of the Mennonite Brethren church in Wiesenfeld. In 1906 he took a course in bookkeeping at Simferopol, the Crimea. For a year he was employed by a large flour mill and then due to circumstances returned to his home to take up farming.

On June 29, 1912 he married Katharina Duerksen. Three years later he was drafted into the medical corps and served on a hospital train until 1918. Shortly after his return from the services, the Revolution occurred and the young family lost their property. They found refuge with their parents in Gnadenfeld, but if it hadn't been for food packages from America, they might have perished.

On September 26, 1925 they left Russia with five children, the youngest a small baby. Shortly after their arrival in Waldheim, Sask., the baby, Willie, died. In 1926 they moved to Humboldt, Sask., where two more children were born to them. After ten years of hard work in Saskatchewan, they moved to Greendale, BiC., where they took up dairy and fruit farming and enjoyed the milder climate.

In April, 1954 his wife was called home. He continued to live in his own home until 1961, then at the Tabor Home for some years and finally with his children, the George Reimers. On January 1, 1972, the Lord called him home. The family has lost a praying father and grandfather. He is survived by three sons, Cornelius and wife Jean of Sydney, B.C., David and wife Faith of Victoria, Edgar and wife Hilda of Vancouver; three daughters, Mrs. C. A. (Katie) Froese of Chilliwack, Mrs. G. W. (Annie) Reimer of Sardis, and Mrs. F. A. (Louise) D'Altroy of Centre Valley, Pa.; his sons-in-law, 26 grandchildren and 21 great grandchildren, as well as two sisters in the Soviet Union.