JOHN PAULS

Adjust Text Size: A+ A-

JOHN PAULS
April 27, 1916 - November 7, 2022

We announce with sadness the passing of John Pauls of Winnipeg, Manitoba at the age of 106 years.
He was predeceased by his wife Mary (Friesen), brother Cornelius, sister-in-law Agatha, sisters Helena and Maria, father Cornelius, mother Helena (Andres) and aunt Katherine Andres.
He is survived by daughter Louise Pauls, grandson Sam Dickinson, daughter Marlene Pauls Laucht (Matthias), granddaughter Monika Pauls Laucht, granddaughter Marika Cheung (Donny), great-grandson Theodor (Teo) Wai-Dak Cheung, chosen daughter Val Janzen (Abe) and her family; nieces, Lorna Pauls, Irene Denchuk (Richard) and nephew Vern Pauls (Judy).
John was a strong and determined but also a kind, gentle and loving person. He overcame many obstacles during his long life including the Russian revolution, the great depression and the Second World War, but never lost his mischievous sense of humour.
John was born in 1916 in the village of Eichenfeld, Russia in the "Old Colony", Chortitza. In 1924 (his father having been murdered in 1919) John, his mother, his brother and his Aunt Katherine left Russia and settled first in Winkler, then Kaleida and finally in 1929 in Winnipeg.
As a young man John "rode the rails" during the depression, carrying only a cardboard box with a shirt, a Bible and a mug inside. He travelled to and worked in Leamington, ON, and in Dundurn, SK, there meeting and working with the Saskatchewan Pauls relatives.
John met his wife-to be, Mary Friesen, on a blind date in 1938. They married in 1947, a year after he returned from serving as a Medic in the Second World War.
Working first as an orderly then as a supervisor, John remained at the Deer Lodge Veterans' Hospital until he retired.
John and Mary enjoyed a close, rich family relationship with their children and grandchildren and had a lively social life with them and with friends and relatives.
They enjoyed traveling, meeting new people, seeing new places and cultures immensely. They enjoyed camping in Canada when their family was young, later flying to Hong Kong, China with the Great Wall of China and the Terra Cotta soldiers, Europe and New Zealand to see seemingly more sheep than people. In China, many people tried to teach John how to use chop sticks. All failed.
After Mary's death in 1997 John continued to embrace and nurture his relationships with family and friends and to play an active part in the lives of his children and grandchildren.
John's interests besides work and family included gardening, listening to music, walking everywhere and travelling, especially travelling. He loved his Fehrway "Mystery" bus tours, his Choir trip to Europe, taking a riverboat down the Mississippi, seeing the polar bears in Churchill, visiting Mexico and Cuba and, at age 96, taking a family trip to Jamaica. Even during his last years at Bethania, he was known as the "Happy Wanderer" for wheeling himself (with his feet) throughout the complex.
John experienced, first hand, massive changes in modes of transportation. He rode a horse, Maggie, bareback to school. He sailed to Canada on an immigration ocean liner, through the Straits of Gibraltar, at night, on a troop ship on his way to Italy during the Second World War, down the Mississippi River on a Riverboat. He rode the Immigration Train from Quebec City to Winnipeg, in boxcars during the "Dirty Thirties", later to basic army training and eventually the Polar Bear Express to Churchill. He walked and rode in military transports and trains from one military hospital to another from Italy to France to Holland. He flew all over the world in planes and he watched, on television, as mankind landed on the moon.
When asked what advice he might give us, he said "We should talk less, smile more".
Many thanks to the caring staff at Bethania Personal Care Home, his home for the past six years.
A service will be held at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, November 12, 2022 at First Mennonite Church of Winnipeg, 922 Notre Dame Avenue.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Bethania Personal Care Home or MCC Canada.

Publish Date: Nov 12, 2022

JOHN PAULS
April 27, 1916 - November 7, 2022

We announce with sadness the passing of John Pauls of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
He was predeceased by his wife Mary (Friesen), and his brother Cornelius (Agatha). He is survived by daughters, Louise Pauls, Marlene Pauls Laucht (Matthias), and chosen daughter Val Janzen (Abe) and their families.
A service will be held at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, November 12, 2022 at First Mennonite Church of Winnipeg, 922 Notre Dame Ave.
A longer obituary will follow.

Publish Date: Nov 10, 2022

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Nov 10, 2022, Nov 12, 2022