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Seniors Spotlight: George and Anne Krahn

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1 Seniors Spotlight George And Anne Krahn Pic Cropped
George and Anne Krahn of Niverville. Brenda Sawatzky

In today’s transient and restless world, few can still say they’ve only ever called one place home. For George Krahn, Niverville is where he was born and raised. It’s also where he’s chosen to live out his retirement years along with his bride of almost 65 years—Anne.

Anne can almost boast the same. Niverville has been her home since she was a teenager, and she’s had no desire to live anywhere else. This is where the couple met, married, worked, raised their only daughter, Janet, and helped raise two wonderful grandsons, Lindsay and Avery.

George is now 92 years young and Anne is 91.

For the past three years, they’ve enjoyed the comforts of their suite in the Niverville Credit Union Manor after leaving their home on First Street North where they lived for 46 years.

“We thought we couldn’t look after our property anymore,” Anne says. “We had a big yard to look after and, you know, they always say, ‘You can always hire somebody,’ but… if you’re used to having your work done when you want it, then it’s not so easy.”

Their long-time home was built by the Whittick brothers, one of Niverville’s earliest families. George and Anne loved their large backyard space, planting gardens and flowers together.

When the grandsons arrived on the scene, the couple poured themselves into grandparenting. George spent many hours with them in outdoor activities. For years, their back yard included a skating rink where George taught the boys to play hockey.

“That was a thing for the community, too,” says Anne. “Our grandsons came with their friends and they had a good time. It was worth it. That’s where Lindsay actually learned to skate [and play hockey].”

Dating Life

The couple met in the early 1950s, introduced by friends even though their parents lived in the same neighbourhood on the north side of town.

“George had a car and, in those days, not very many young fellas had cars,” Anne recalls.

As for dating, they say there weren’t many options for amusing themselves in Niverville at the time.

“We didn’t have much entertainment in those days,” George muses. “We were always working. We had no time to [play]. You had to work because money had to come from somewhere.”

They did, however, enjoy some fun at the local community hall located on Main Street.

“There was always dances on every weekend,” Anne says. “There was local musicians… and they always supplied the music—old country music with waltzes and foxtrots. And then there was the square dancing. We had a gentleman there that was single and he was a really good dancer. He would teach us dances and we would learn how to do square dancing… We all enjoyed it. And you didn’t have to have a partner to go.”

Thankfully, neither set of parents discouraged dancing at the hall as did many other Niverville parents at that time.

A Steady Career

George began his career on a farm owned by the Kehler brothers, the largest farm in the area at the time. One of the brothers, he says, was responsible for building the community’s feed mill. In 1950, George moved on to what would become his longest work experience, with the B&A Service Station, located where the Niverville Credit Union sits today.

For 40 years, George was known as the local fuel truck driver, delivering to farmers all over the southeast. He stayed at this job through two ownership changes. The Niverville service station eventually became a Gulf but eventually shut down its Niverville location and moved to St. Adolphe as a Shell station. George continued to work from that community business.

As a young woman, Anne found employment in Mr. Wiens’s grocery store. She eventually relocated to the post office where she worked for 30 years until the age of 65. In this unique position, Anne was able to keep her finger on the pulse of the community, writing a regular weekly column called Niverville News for The Carillon over the course of those three decades. Because of Anne’s efforts, Niverville residents were able to keep abreast of what was happening on a local level.

But a full retirement wasn’t in the cards for the couple—at least, not for another 20 years.

“When [George] retired from his job, we took over cleaning till we were in our eighties,” says Anne.

As a team, they provided janitorial services at the post office, Al’s Plumbing, and the Manitoba Hydro building. The travel and leisure many couples enjoy in their silver years wasn’t meant to be for this hard-working couple.

Son of Immigrants

George was born just two months after his immigrant parents and older sister landed on Canadian shores in 1926, having fled Russia. The family settled into a house on Third Avenue South and both parents found employment at the local chicken-killing plant.

George’s childhood memories are fading, but he does recall growing up in a musical family—mostly guitars, he says. Anne’s family, too, was musically inclined. Her brothers played mandolin, guitar, and the autoharp. Her dad played the violin. Together, they entertained at many a wedding.

Life on the Farm

Anne was raised by her father and three older brothers on a farm near Tourond. Sadly, her mother died of tuberculosis when she was a tender three years of age. Anne’s mother was the first patient to take up residence at the newly built St. Amant Centre and Anne recalls her father talking about how lonely her mother was there.

Like all farm children of the time, Anne was put to work as soon as she was capable.

“You learned how to milk cows at an early age, and in summertime you herded your cows out on the road allowance,” she says. “You took them out to graze and then you brought them back. I didn’t enjoy that.”

In spite of the hardships, Anne is still thankful that her father managed to keep the family together, a promise he’d made to his wife as she lay dying in a Winnipeg care centre.

The Carmichael School

Later, Anne built happier memories at the one-room Carmichael school.

“[There] we could all play together,” she recalls fondly. “The girls could even play football… You brought your lunch and everybody had jam sandwiches in those days. Anybody that had bologna sandwiches, that was just special.”

One of her most vivid memories was the loss of a favourite teacher, Mr. Fast, who succumbed to the bitter cold while trying to make his way home on foot in a Manitoba blizzard. The much-loved teacher was father to Alex Fast Sr., a long-time resident of Niverville and previous owner of Wm. Dyck and Sons. She says the entire school was shaken by the tragedy.

Tourond to Niverville

Living in a household of men with one small girl, Anne’s father had to hire young ladies to help with household chores and cooking. By the time Anne was a young teen, those responsibilities became hers. She credits her brother’s new wife for teaching her many household skills.

“She had patience,” Anne says. “She taught me everything. Except one thing: I didn’t like to cook, but I had to cook. There was no such thing as not wanting to cook. I had all the excuses I had not to cook, but that changed.”

Anne’s oldest brother eventually took over the farm and Anne moved with her father to a home in Niverville where she took care of him as he aged. There, Anne met George. Her father went on to find love again too.

“My dad married after he’d been a widower for 26 years,” she says. “He found a soulmate. She was very, very good for him and for us, too.”

Throughout their married years, George and Anne attended the Niverville Mennonite Church where George became a long-standing usher while Anne worked on the Ladies Aid committee and taught Sunday School.

Making the Best of It

For decades, Anne also volunteered with the United Church quilting group, sewing many a beautiful blanket which would be sold to help fund a variety of mission projects.

In August 2018, Anne suffered a sudden stroke which stole a good deal of her mobility and independence.

“I miss those women and I miss the work,” she says. “I was quilting quite a bit for the Thrift Store, too.”

Thanks to the excellent care and physiotherapy she received at Bethesda Hospital in Steinbach, she’s able to get around now with the aid of a walker and sometimes a wheelchair.

“It’s a very hard thing to accept,” Anne says. “One day you’re okay and the next morning you can’t move your legs… but I’m very fortunate. I just have to look at others… You have to say to yourself, ‘Life is this way now,’ and you make the best of it.”

She says that, while on the rehab ward at Bethesda Hospital, she has seen other stroke victims that didn’t fare as well.

George, too, struggles with mobility these days, hampered by debilitating arthritis in most of his joints.

But they are grateful that they still have each other. They do some socializing in the dining hall and at different manor functions, but mostly they enjoy spending time as a couple in their suite. Their daughter regularly stops by to cook them breakfast, appealing to their appetites for things they don’t get in the dining room.

Lack of Neighbourly Charity

Looking at the way the world has changed over their many years, Anne says she feels like technology has affected the way people relate to one another now, creating a social atmosphere that isn’t as conducive to positive human interaction. She also marvels at the seeming lack of neighbourly charity.

“In [the old days], if someone had something then we all had something,” she says. “If your parents would kill a cow, then everybody in the neighbourhood would have beef. They shared… I think there was more compassion for people than there is nowadays. Everybody is too busy and independent.”

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