Evangeline Dirks Rempel

Tribute to My Mother (Evangeline Dirks Rempel)

By

Frieda Rempel Regehr

It was you, dear mama, who first told us about God and our Savior, and about Heaven. It was you who taught us to pray, who prayed with us every evening. And when we were praying on our own already, you added something at the end and the next time we prayed it ourselves.

It was you, dear Mother, who told us we should give our heart to the Savior, so that He could live inside us and we could be really happy. It was you who first sang with us beautiful simple hymns that a small child could understand. A pleasant memory is seeing you come and sit down in the big chair, holding the youngest infant in your arms. We were in bed already and you sang to us in your lovely, gentle voice. I especially remember the song, “Sound, you heavenly bells.” Often you must have been very tired. But thank you that you did it so often and that you did it cheerfully.

It was you, dear Mother, who told us about the guardian angel and about the Book of Life, about which it says, “Rejoice, that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20). In school, I never heard anything about this.

It was you, too, dear Mother, who answered my questions, when I was grown-up and had my own thoughts about the Bible. It was you, who became our model of how a Christian should live.

Thank you, Mother, that I never heard you call anyone names or swear. I never even heard you grumble or scold. Thank you that I never heard you tell a lie.

And thank you, Mama, that you always saw others in a kindly light. Papa, with his strong sense of justice, was more conscious of the faults of others. And he did have to endure many injustices in his life. You, however, so often found a reason or saw the matter from a kindlier side, and when you could not, you were quiet. So, I learned from you not to become bitter. Even if I have not grasped it completely yet, I do want to try.

Here I want to add a grateful compliment to Father. How faithfully he held morning devotions for us as a family!

And now I want to give you a gift. Listen carefully. Here it is. A whole row of your daughters have said in their youth that they wanted to be like you.