Gerhard Ens 1922-2011

 

Mennonite Heritage Village in Steinbach has lost one of its founding members. Gerhard Ens passed away Sunday at the age of 88.
    
John Rempel, President of MHV says Ens' background with the museum goes right back to the beginning. Rempel says it was Ens who sent out the original invitational letter in 1958 in an effort to start up the museum. At that time the museum became a sub-committee of the Mennonite Historical Society, which Ens was involved with. Rempel says MHV remained a sub-committee until about the mid 1970s at which time it became a separate entity.
    
According to Rempel, Ens remained with the board until 1998, and spent most of his board years as president. Rempel and Ens served together the last eight years. He doesn't remember any specific events or projects that took place during their time together but he says Ens brought dignity to board meetings. "He had an amazing way of maintaining a calm, and maintaining the conversation going. Sometimes when discussions perhaps got a little tense and difficult, he had a remarkable knack and a remarkable sense of humour to bring out a one line; everybody was relaxed and the conversation went on."
    
Rempel says he has many pleasant memories of working with Ens. He says the museum owes Ens a great deal of gratitude. Rempel says in December the museum decided to rename its gallery, the Gerhard Ens Gallery in recognition of his many years of service. Rempel says to this day, nobody has matched the number of years of service that Ens has provided to the facility and the museum felt it necessary to recognize him in this way.
    
The funeral service for Gerhard Ens will be held Friday, 11am at Sargent Avenue Mennonite Church with burial at Glen Eden Memorial Gardens.

 

For more information on Mennonite Heritage Village, click here .