Preface

Preface (by Irene Artes Hedlin)

In 1946, when I was nine years old, my grandmother Evangeline Dirks Rempel and my younger cousin Valentine Rempel came to live with us in Baden, near Bremen in northern Germany. My parents Woldemar and Lina (Rempel) Aertes were also refugees and we were renting three rooms upstairs in a farmhouse.

Grandma was a good storyteller and she had time for us. “Please, tell us a story.” Val and I often asked her. We heard about her childhood in Sumatra and other experiences in her life, as well as stories from books she had read. She also told us Bible stories.

I often saw her reading in a little book. “What are you reading there all the time, Grandma?” I asked her. It was the gospel of Luke. She told me about Jesus. I can still see her face before me as she told me about Jesus’ death on the cross. I was hearing it for the first time. And it made a deep impression on me. I think that was the beginning of my faith.

I am thankful for what she was, always friendly, patient, grateful, approachable, at peace with herself and interested in everything around her. I know she prayed for us all, including her children and grandchildren far away, not knowing where they were. She loved us all.

While she was waiting for her departure to Canada in 1948, she recorded some of her experiences. Later when we were living in Altona, Manitoba we asked her to write down her recollections. She recorded these at different times in various notebooks and on sheets of paper. She continued to do so until she was past 90.

Since she usually used the Gothic script, my mother Lina Artes kindly transcribed her writing into the Latin script for me.

I have arranged her reminiscences in chronological order and translated them into English. My editorial comments are in italics.

Irene Artes Hedlin

Winnipeg, Canada

1994