Rempel, Johann G. (1890-1963)
Johann "John" Gerhard Rempel: teacher, minister, and elder; born 1 February 1890 in Nieder-Chortitza, Chortitza Mennonite Settlement, South Russia, the son of Gerhard G. Rempel (2 August 1860, Nieder-Chortitza, Chortitza, South Russia - 23 December 1919, Nieder-Chortitza, Chortitza, South Russia) and Maria (Rempel) Rempel (29 February 1864, Nieder-Chortitza, Chortitza, South Russia - 28 February 1891, Nieder-Chortitza, Chortitza, South Russia). He was the third of three children. After his mother’s death John’s father married Maria Pauls (28 June 1867, Rosenthal, Chortitza, South Russia - 8 January 1920, Nieder-Chortitza, Chortitza, South Russia) and five children were born to the couple. On 23 August 1920 John married Susanna Epp (26 June 1899, Nieder-Chortitza, Chortitza, South Russia – January 1988, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada) and they had seven children: John, Gerry, Hilda, Alma, Agnes, Laura, and Albert. John died on 1 January 1963 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
John chose teaching as his profession and taught school until the outbreak of World War I in 1914. During the war his first alternative service assignment was as a nurse’s aide on a hospital train. After the war he resumed teaching, and in June 1920 he was also elected as a minister in the Mennonite congregation in Nieder-Chortitza.
In 1923 John, Susanna and two young sons joined the first group of immigrants to Canada, arriving in Saskatchewan. In Saskatchewan John served first as a minister in Langham and then as a Bible School principal and teacher Rosthern Bible School. In addition he served as Secretary-Treasurer of the Conference of Mennonites in Canada for 19 years, and wrote Children’s Bible stories for Der Bote. In 1946 he was elected elder of the Rosenort group of churches in Rosthern and area, replacing David Toews.
In 1952, while attending the Mennonite World Conference in Basel, Switzerland, Rempel suffered a stroke, and as a result had to give up many of the duties he had been performing. However, during the next six years or so, he was still able to devote a lot of his time to writing, mainly on the subject of Mennonite history.
Johann G. Rempel was the older half-brother to the distinguished Russian Mennonite historian David G. Rempel (1899-1992).
Bibliography
Alice, Irene. "John G. Rempel's Children." Personal e-mail (16 July 2013).
GRANDMA (The Genealogical Registry and Database of Mennonite Ancestry) Database, 6.06 ed. Fresno, CA: California Mennonite Historical Society, 2011: #158407.
Rogers, Alma. "John G. Rempel's Children." Personal e-mail (16 July 2013).
"Two Leaders to be Honoured." Saskatchewan Mennonite Historian, XIV, no. 2 (June 2008): 7.
| Author(s) | Richard D Thiessen |
|---|---|
| Date Published | August 2013 |
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MLA style
Thiessen, Richard D. "Rempel, Johann G. (1890-1963)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. August 2013. Web. 16 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Rempel,_Johann_G._(1890-1963)&oldid=157065.
APA style
Thiessen, Richard D. (August 2013). Rempel, Johann G. (1890-1963). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 16 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Rempel,_Johann_G._(1890-1963)&oldid=157065.
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