Obituary of Henry Gerhard Janzen

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Henry Janzen was born on June 20, 1945, in Coaldale, AB. He was the second of 3 children born to David and Kathrina (Wall) Janzen of Springridge, AB. Henry’s earliest years were spent on the farm in Springridge and later split between the farm and Winnipeg, where his father taught at Canadian Mennonite Bible College, before the family moved to Berlin, Germany for 3 years. Here his parents volunteered with MCC assisting with resettling East German refugees. As a young teenager with a keen interest in history, living in Berlin at the height of the Cold War, provided Henry with many unique and memorable experiences including 3 years attending Berlin High School, an American military dependents’ school. Henry accepted Jesus as his saviour at a young age and publicly declared his commitment when he was baptized at First Mennonite Church in Bluffton, OH after the family’s return from Europe.

After returning to Canada and Niagara-on-the-Lake, Henry met Lorie Reimer at church and they began dating while Lorie was still in high school. After Lorie graduated from university, they married on May 31, 1969. Henry was already living in Toronto and he and Lorie lived there one more year while completing university courses before moving to Sudbury in 1970 where their children were born. In 1980 they purchased a lot in Heidelberg where they built their new home. Lorie was a treasured and multi-talented person who spent what should have been the best years of her life valiantly battling cancer. Henry, their sons, family and everyone who knew her were devastated when she died in 1988, a month after her 40th birthday. Henry took on the role of single parent, but life seemed to be in a holding pattern with no long term plans or goals, or someone to share them with, until he met Karen Bowman. They were married on June 26, 1991 and Karen bravely moved into a household with four males.

After university Henry taught chemistry and biology at Lockerby Composite School in Sudbury and Rockway Mennonite Collegiate in Kitchener. Henry was an early adopter of computer technology and regularly attended and gave presentations at educational computing conferences all the while encouraging his students to use this new technology and his school to budget more money for hardware and software.

Before retiring, Henry and Karen took a number of car trips across North America while Henry eloquently described the virtues of camping to Karen. It worked. After retirement they purchased a small RV to introduce Karen to camping and Henry and Karen enjoyed 22 years of travel taking regular RV trips around North America as well as several overseas trips. He had a lengthy travel bucket list on retirement including the Arctic, tropical rainforest, eastern Europe, Berlin, and especially Ukraine and Crimea where he was able to visit his grandparents’ home village and the farm where his mother was born. Henry enjoyed many hobbies over the years including gardening, camping, travel, photography, cars and tractors. He was an active member of St. Jacobs Mennonite Church where he taught Sunday School and served on several committees over the years.

His travel bucket was still half full when, after years of excellent health, Henry began to experience early symptoms of cancer in April, 2023. Continuing to enjoy life with his family, he passed away peacefully at Waterloo Hospice on Friday May 31, 2024.

Henry is survived by Karen, his best friend, loving wife and faithful travel companion. He was predeceased by his first wife Lorie (Reimer) in 1988, his parents David and Kathrina (Wall) Janzen, his in-laws Jacob Reimer and Andrew and Viola (Burkhart) Bowman and brothers-in-law Bryan Bowman and Robert Epp and sister-in-law Kathryn Kamada. Henry is survived by Karen (Bowman), his dear wife of 33 years, his children Ken and Karen, Tim and Ericka, and Chris and Eva; his grandchildren Laura (Ricci Tam), Sam and Max, Walter and Luke and Matthew. He is also survived by his brother David (Sharon) and sister Anita (Blake Holderness). Also surviving is an extended family of in-laws, Jan Bowman (d. Bryan), mother-in-law Justine Reimer (d. Jacob), Wally Reimer (d. Kathryn), Trudi Heidebrecht (Peter), and Art Reimer (Victoria) as well as many nieces and nephews.

Visitation will be held at St. Jacobs Mennonite Church, 1310 King St. N, St. Jacobs, ON, on Wednesday, June 5, 2024, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The funeral service will take place at St. Jacobs Mennonite Church on Thursday, June 6, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. Private interment at St. Jacobs Mennonite Cemetery will precede the funeral.

Donations in Henry’s memory to Mennonite Central Committee, St. Jacobs Mennonite Church, or the Grand River Hospital Foundation would be greatly appreciated, and can be arranged through Erb & Good Family Funeral Home at www.erbgood.com or by calling 519-745-8445.