Margaret (nee Braun) Krause
September 16, 1931–September 22, 2020
In her ninetieth year, Margaret Braun Krause passed away at September 22, 2020 at 19:10 p.m. in Gladstone, Manitoba. Predeceased by her husband John Krause on November 11, 2011; her parents Elisabeth Penner Braun and Dietrich M. Braun; her siblings Susan Bailey, Anne Thiessen, Edward Braun and Linda Boutang. She leaves behind one brother—Henry Braun; four children: Bradley J. Krause (Valerie), Royce W. Krause (Noreen), Miranda J. Chivers (Ronald), J. Eldon R. Krause (Linda), their fostered daughter Patsy; and eleven grandchildren Jennifer R. Jarick (Cory); Ian K. Brandt (Amy); Laura Walker (Chris); Ashley Krause (Owen Coomer); Jonathan Krause (Amanda); Darryl Krause; Michelle Michie (David); Daniel Krause (Amanda); Justin Krause; And step-granddaughters Jo-ann Chivers Schwartz (Lee); and Alisia Chivers. And Her thirteen great-grandchildren: Ginger Bell and Haidee Jane Krause (children of Darryl), Trinity and Finn Walker (of Laura & Chris), Declan and Harper Krause (of Jonathan & Amanda), William and Jeremy Coomer (of Ashley & Owen), Nathan and Jason Michie (of Michelle & David); Artessa J. Brandt (of Ian & Amy); Mackenzie A. Schwartz (Jo-ann & Lee); and Ezra C. Krause (of Daniel & Amanda)

Mom was born September 16, 1931 at home in the mountainside of Morden, Manitoba to Elisabeth Penner Braun (of (formerly) Kleefeld (now) Plum Coulee area) and Dietrich M. (formerly G.) Braun of Neuendorf village, Chortitza colony, Russia. Her birth certificate reads Mountainside.

During her formative years, her dad, Dietrich M. Braun worked as a carpenter, building grain elevators across the prairies. His lengthy absences left Margaret and her siblings without consistent fatherly guidance. However, the abundance of a maternal family of fifteen aunts and uncles plus the paternal remnant of her father’s German-Russian refugee family, a multitude of cousins, and the large ethnic Mennonite community provided the warmth and companionship needed to survive the harsh conditions of the depression era. It’s possible her early life was somewhat chaotic, as records state her parents allegedly moved nineteen times during those early years. When her father built the grain elevators in Winkler, the family settled there, and according to mom, life became more stable.

As the second oldest of six children growing up in poverty, hard work replaced play at a very young age. At the age of seven, she was sent to work in the neighbor’s beet and potato fields. She recalled her first work related accident at the age of eight when she carelessly threw down the hoe, slicing her leg open. She was rushed to the hospital for surgery, but subsequently developed a bad infection. Her aunt Agatha Wiebe (Peter) Penner—who (she says) was very knowledgeable about herbs and natural healing—applied a poultice of brown bread and “real” sour cream for the next three days. The poultice worked by drawing out the poison. The ankle healed quickly, only leaving a small scar. Although she couldn’t return to work that summer, she was ready, willing and able to return to the fields the following year.

It was during these early years she became friendly with her future husband John Krause. At the age of ten, he also worked in the fields. Over the years, they got to know each other well. John was mom’s only love. She claims only one other boy courted for her attention, but her father didn’t like him. She didn’t have much to add on this story.

When she was nine, her mom inherited acreage in Plum Coulee. At the age of eleven, her dad moved the house from Winkler to the farm where they resided until his retirement. Mom remembered the house as a ten by sixteen living quarters with two 48” beds in one room, the sewing machine against the wall and curtains on either side of the bed. The kids slept on benches in the kitchen under the table. Grampa eventually built a large white farmhouse on the property.

Child labor was an accepted part of farm life. It was the children’s responsibility to look after the animals. Mom milked cows, fed pigs, shoveled manure, hauled feed, stacked straw, cleaned out slop bins, and built fences. She said they didn’t complain, because this was the way life was back then.

At the age of ten, and until the age of thirteen, she and her older sister Susan spent their summers in North Dakota working at farmer “Best’s” farm. They picked potatoes and helped with other farming tasks. The pay of five cents a row included accommodation in the hayloft. All money earned was given to their parents to help purchase schoolbooks.

At the end of their summers, Margaret and Susan returned home to help their sister Anne and brother Edward stook sheaves and thresh grain.

During her fourteenth and fifteenth year, Margaret and Susan traveled with a busload of other Mennonite girls to St. Catherine’s, Ontario to work at the Boese cannery. There they learned the art of canning and juicing cherries, tomatoes, peaches, pears and grapes. The jobs began at the beginning of the fruit season and lasted until the end of harvest. Again, all money earned was sent home to help with school expenses.

At sixteen, Margaret worked as a nanny in Ontario for a year for a Mrs. Abe Friesen, a widow whose husband was killed in an airplane crash.

I wondered how mom managed to find time to go to school since she seemed to be working throughout her childhood. She said she attended between November and April. The dark winter months were spent studying to catch up for those she missed. All exams were written before she left for the summer. In essence, she completed the entire school year’s work in half the allotted time. Between schoolwork and farm life, there was no leisure time.

I neglected to ask Mom how far she went in school, but I know Dad only had grade eight. It’s possible she went to grade ten. That was the average education in those years.

I’m sure mom’s early life of all work and no play greatly influenced her parenting. In her thinking work was play. With training, the heart learns to follow the head and passion will follow. Mom impressed upon us that all time must be productive time. Anything less was laziness.

Unfortunately, I was a dreamer and a thinker. My creativity developed during my private solitary time. I didn’t enjoy physical activity or farm life. Sadly, despite being the only girl, Mom and I clashed on our different perspectives and we never developed the deep relationship we probably both wanted.

I have very few memories of playtime with mom. Most of my earliest memories with her include domestic chores such as gardening or baking. However, when my brothers and I were old enough to play board games, our family would sit down at the table, be instructed as to the rules of the game and play in an organized fashion. Mom believed strongly in order and discipline. She was a strict parent and worried about our reputation. Growing up in a large family and in a Mennonite community, mom was all too familiar how quickly people judge.

At the age of seventeen, Mom decided to follow in her sister’s Susie’s footsteps by applying to nursing school. Her academic training was done in four months in Winnipeg, followed by eight months of practical training at the Winkler and Morden hospitals.

After receiving her Licensed Practical Nurse Diploma, she began working full-time in the Morden hospital in August of 1950. After she married John January 18, 1951 she returned to the hospital for a meeting. John came with her to the interview. He told the nursing director Mom could work, but she was not permitted to work nights or weekends. Mom went home in tears. She knew if she couldn’t work flexible hours, then she couldn’t be a nurse anymore. She cherished those nursing credentials; but in the old Mennonite culture, a good man didn’t permit his wife to work outside the home. Mom didn’t return to the nursing field until 1966.

For the next fifteen years, Mom put her energies to work raising her family of three boys and one girl. But pregnancy and giving birth was not easy. Suffering from a prolapsed uterus, she hemorrhaged after Royce’s premature birth, requiring a blood transfusion. Her doctors advised her not to have any more children. But mom came from a family of six siblings and both her parents came from large families. From her perspective, large families were happy families. She refused the medical advice saying she wouldn’t quit until she had a girl. Two years later God blessed her with me, a premature and sickly baby. Three years later, Eldon arrived, two months early. At four pounds, he fit into a shoebox. Mom’s health was now precarious, and she underwent a hysterectomy at the age of twenty-eight.

Mom’s suffered from constant allergies, stomach problems and chronic pain throughout her life. But she didn’t let her poor health slow her down. Gardening was her passion and her playtime. Working the soil energized her and helped her to connect with God. She became well-known for her gardening skills. In 2001, the Portage la Prairie Graphic and the Herald Leader Press ran articles on her amazing talent and knowledge on heirloom seeds. This was before heirloom seeds became a trend. They photographed her holding a 28 ½ pound watermelon grown in her garden. Mom could grow anything. I turned to her for advice on every plant problem. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one.

Around 2010, in Arizona I collected some pits from local dates and decided to soak them to see if they would root. About six weeks later the roots were barely visible. I threw the pits into a pot with some soil and returned north for the summer, never expecting anything to come from my efforts. Six months later, I returned to discover four tiny palm trees. A vague fact I learned somewhere hinted palm trees were sensitive and didn’t transplant easily. I called mom. Despite this being a tropical plant, she knew exactly what to do and explained the risks. I followed her advice, losing three but saving one. When we sold the property in 2018, that date palm was eight feet tall. This is just one example of how Mom loved to encourage others to garden.

Mom didn’t just grow her fruits and vegetables for food. Like the aunt she admired, she believed strongly in herbal medicine. She was always concocting some tea or tonic from the weeds in the wild or the herbs in her garden. She believed plants contain the cure for every disease. She reminded me that dandelion is a wonderful healer since it cleans the liver and the pancreas. Chamomile makes an excellent herbal tonic and is very beneficial for horses. I didn’t write down the medicinal benefits, but from experience I know it helps with relaxation and sleep. Mom inspired me to enjoy herbs and see weeds from a different perspective. (The results of her influence show in my vast tea and spic collection.)

When mom and dad built the house on Prospect Road, it was a bare lot. Over the next twenty years, they turned the property into a massive orchard with three large vegetable gardens. Patches of Flowers were planted with rows of vegetables in a disorganized fashion. I guess she knew flowers belonged there but wasn’t sure how to highlight their beauty. Mom liked to collect pretty things, but she struggled with displaying them. Whether flowers in the garden or potential antiques from auction sales, mom needed to have them. What she would do with them later was always a puzzle. “Someday,” she said, “Someone will want them.”

During their retirement years, between attending auction sales, mom and dad loved to sell fruits and vegetables on the highway from the back of their truck. I doubt the amount they earned paid for the expenses of maintaining their hobby farm or mom’s hoarding. But every little bit helped.

When mom moved from her farm to the apartment in Portage, she deeply missed the farm. Ruth took her back a few times to visit the garden and the orchards.

Mom’s depression era training taught her not to waste anything. She knew how to recycle and reuse long before it became fashionable. Garbage was virtually non-existent in our house. Mom didn’t throw anything away. This behavior became a problem in later years and my brothers had quite the job cleaning out the house after dad died. Conveniently, I suffered an asthma attack at the first sniff of mold and I was quickly discharged from my involvement in this difficult task. Thanks bros.

Mom was never one to quit learning. When Eldon was diagnosed as deaf, she studied sign language. She became proficient and volunteered as a sign language interpreter at her local church and helped with the hearing-impaired at the Manitoba Developmental Center. She had a passion for evangelism, especially for those the church could not reach. She believed everyone should have the opportunity to hear the gospel. While Dad was busy reaching the world for Christ through the Gideon’s and Youth for Christ missions, mom served in the community volunteering with others who struggled with life challenges.

When I was a teenager, several First Nations students came to live with us while they attended high school. My parents also hosted a First Nations deaf student from northern Manitoba on weekends who attended Manitoba school for the Deaf with Eldon. Eventually they fostered Patsy, a former resident of the Manitoba Developmental Center. Mom and Dad taught her basic life skills and treated her as a daughter. They continued to support her when she moved into independent living. Patsy enjoyed a permanently close relationship with mom and dad.

Mom loved making a difference. I guess it was part of her nursing heart. In 1966 when they moved from Elm Creek to Portage, she convinced dad to let her return to her choice profession. She retrained at the Portage Hospital and passed her LPN exams with flying colors. She worked at the hospital until 1972, and then moved to the Lions Manor where she worked for another six years. She injured her back during this time and could no longer manage the physical tasks of nursing. She was heartbroken to leave the profession.

But mom would not quit. Besides gardening, she also loved sewing, crafting and learning new skills. In addition to taking classes, she also enjoyed teaching them. Despite their limited education, mom and dad had a passion for education.

After leaving nursing, she volunteered for the Portage Christian Academy as a secretary-treasurer and part-time receptionist. Mom and Dad supported Christian education strongly and were horrified by the trends in secular education. They worried about their grandchildren’s future. With a lack of educational options for Eldon, they were deeply concerned about his future. They sacrificed financially, sending him to a Christian high school for the deaf in Tennessee. Later, Mom and dad took on the challenge of homeschooling Daniel and Justin in their primary years and then covered all their higher educational costs at the christian school in Portage (Westpark). Mom and Dad bragged about Darryl and Michelle’s education, too. I know they wished for all their grandchildren to have strong faith based instruction.

In 1977 Dad retired from Portage Credit Union and opened a real estate office. Initially, Mom was his receptionist. Then she decided she wanted her own business too. Since she loved sewing and crafting, opening a fabric store helped to fuel her creativity. She opened Portage Fabric & Textile in 1978. The store became crowded very quickly as mom amassed a collection of exotic fabrics and sewing machines. We often wondered if the sales paid for the inventory.

The store was hard work and the real estate wasn’t doing well. Dad got an opportunity to partner in a new restaurant business. Bonanza opened in 1985. It didn’t take long for mom to sell her store and jump into the restaurant business with dad. When Dad and his partners opened the second restaurant, they needed all the free help they could get. Mom cooked and helped in the kitchen and also helped with the finances. Mom and Dad had a testy relationship during those years. Dad didn’t appreciate mom’s help, especially when his qualified staff were more than capable of managing. Mom gradually withdrew from helping and busied herself with her garden and sewing and educating Daniel and Justin.

After both restaurants were sold, mom and dad retired to gardening and educating Eldon and Linda’s boys. After Dad died in 2011, mom continued gardening. But without Dad, she wasn’t able to accomplish as much anymore. Mom said the fruit still needed to be picked and potatoes must be planted. Even though she had seven freezers full of food, she still needed more “just in case.” She continued to can and juice her fruits and vegetables until her final summer on the farm. We are very grateful for Ruth and Andre, who volunteered their time, money and energy to help mom with her gardening and other menial tasks until she could no longer do so.

Heaven is blessed to receive this talented and creative woman. Right now, she is probably planting gardens for the Lord. The tables are set with ancient dishes and medieval crockery and spread with the abundant harvest from her labor. And everyone will be dressed in the finest fabrics sewn by her hands. She anxiously awaits all of us to join her.

This eulogy was written and prepared by Miranda J. Chivers prior to the passing of her mother, Margaret Krause on September 22, 2020.