Mary Guenther

Mary Guenther

August 4, 1932 – January 5, 2025

Mary Guenther died on Sunday morning, January 5, 2025, in the Warman Mennonite Special Care Home after several months of declining health. Her husband of 66 years had died just six days earlier. Mary was born on August 4, 1932, to Henry and Maria Wiebe who farmed one mile west of Gruenfeld, SK. Of all of Henry and Maria’s children, she was the only one who survived past the age of 5. Although she grew up as an only child, she was fortunate to have an aunt and uncle living on the same quarter of land, enabling her to spend much of her time with her cousins who became like her siblings. Mary loved adventures and made many memories with her cousins and friends while living on the farm with her parents. 

At the age of 23, Mary took on a housekeeping job in Saskatoon which meant moving to the city for the months she was not needed on the farm. When Peter Guenther from the Hepburn area initially came courting, Mary said she was busy hosting a birthday for her cousin Peg. Thankfully, he returned to try again a few weeks later; this time Mary did not hesitate to go with him. Peter and Mary were married on November 9, 1958, in the Old Colony Mennonite Church in Neuhorst where they both had been baptized in 1952. Our parents remembered that it was an unseasonably warm day with children playing outside on the yard during the reception because there was no snow.

They moved into a house in Saskatoon, sharing it with Pete’s brother and sister-in-law, Cornie and Elizabeth Guenther, who also had recently married. They each lived on a separate floor in the house which is still located on Avenue F South in Saskatoon. In 1960, they bought a quarter section of land near Hepburn from Mary’s uncle Isaac Wiebe and settled into farm life. Mary had a big garden and did most of the chores while Peter worked full time as a plumber in Saskatoon.

Soon their family began to expand. Ken was born in 1961, Alan in 1962, and Diane in 1966. Mom and Dad started making plans to build a new house because the one in which they were living was getting too small for their growing family. So, in 1968, the new house was ready to live in, and the old house was sold and moved off the yard. Wayne was born in 1971, and their family was complete. Life was busy for Mary with looking after the children, chores, garden and yard work, and being very involved in church life. She loved to host and often had people in their home for meals and visits.

Traveling and going on holidays was also something Pete and Mary did often. They would pack up the family for a few weeks in July and either head off to La Crete or Kelowna to visit family or make a road trip through the states finding historical landmarks and museums. Mary didn’t particularly have an interest in history like Pete did, but she went along with the plan, and more memories were made. When Pete took on more of the grain farming and less plumbing, it freed up the winters more for travel. Because Pete and Mary had a passion for missions, they would visit missionaries including both Ken and Alan during their winter travels. Mom and Dad visited Ken and Bertha several times in the Philippines and once in Russia, and they also visited Alan in Pakistan. They made many trips to Haiti, several trips to the Holy Land, and drove across Canada several times, visiting Alan in Montreal, and Diane in the Yukon. They also did senior bus tours when they did not feel like doing the driving by themselves. Mom enjoyed reading and writing and wrote several books and family histories.

Mom loved connecting with her grandchildren, but unfortunately many of them lived too far away to see regularly. Wayne and Ruth’s children got to see Grandma the most, and she enjoyed babysitting them. A story they love to tell is the time she fell asleep while reading them a story, and they had to wake her up to finish the story! Mom and Dad would make annual trips up to Nipawin for the senior retreat at the Bible College. Wes and Diane’s children would enjoy visiting Grandma in the camper where she would feed them candy and chips. Mom always enjoyed having her kids and grandkids come over for meals or weekends and would make sure she always had all their favourite foods ready- even if it meant 5 different flavours of pie!

When Mom and Dad retired from the farm in 1995, they moved into Warman. Mom used as much of the backyard (and back alley) for her garden, growing many vegetables and varieties of fruits and berries. They had enough grapes and Saskatoon berries to share with many friends and family. Mom often told us that the blue house in Warman was her favourite place to live. When the house and yard just got to be too much for them, they moved into the new addition of the Warman Care Home (North Haven) in 2016. Downsizing to the small apartment was not an easy adjustment, but Mom still hosted friends and family over for meals as much as she could.

In 2018, Mom became quite sick with pneumonia to the point where we all thought she was at the end her life here on earth. But her health rebounded, and she came back home. She was determined to keep up her strength and often refused to use her walker because she saw it as a sign of weakness. She fell several times, had a few more hospital stays, but always came back—a little weaker but determined to get stronger. She started to lose her memory but not her sense of humour. Wes would often remind her that he was her favourite son-in-law, and she even gave him a birthday card stating that! Her quick wit would often give us a good laugh.

Mom loved reading her Bible and would often tell us that she prayed for her kids and grandkids daily. Visits from family was never often enough and she loved watching her great grandchildren whenever they came to visit. The move to the west wing of the care home in 2022 was a tough adjustment for Mom, but she filled her days with reading, puzzling, and waiting for company to come and visit. Mom and Dad celebrated their 66^th anniversary last November. Wayne and Ruth took them to the yard near Gruenfeld where they had had their wedding reception and took their picture under the tree which had been just a sapling when they got married. Mom lived a full life and made many memories that she loved to retell. 

Mary is survived by her children Ken (Bertha) Guenther and grandchildren David and Rachel; Alan Guenther; Diane (Wes) Fehr and grandchildren Derek, Jeremy, Karalee, and Taryn; Wayne (Ruth) Guenther and grandchildren Jaidyn and Tynan. She is also survived by her seven great-grandchildren and by her brothers-in-law Cornie (Elizabeth) Guenther, Ben Guenther, Simon Froese, and Peter Giesbrecht, her sisters-in-law Sarah (Cornie) Guenther and Martha (Bruce) Isaak, and numerous nieces and nephews. Mary was predeceased by her husband Peter, her parents Henry and Maria Wiebe, her sisters Justina and Anna, her brother George, and eight other brothers and sisters who died at birth, and by her brother-in-law Alfred Guenther, and her sisters-in-law Suzie Froese and Mary Giesbrecht.

The funeral for Peter & Mary Guenther will be held at Osler Mission Chapel on Friday, January 10, at 2:00 p.m. with interment to follow at Gruenfeld Cemetery. To watch the live stream please click on the link below.

CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STREAM LINK OF FUNERAL SERVICE FOR THE LATE MARY & PETER GUENTHER
(A copy of the live stream will also be available to view after the service at the link above. The copy will be available for approximately 6 months.)

Arrangements entrusted to Dalmeny Funeral Home 306-254-2022.