Elsa “Elsie” Janzen (nee Tiessen)

Obituary

Elsa (Elsie) Janzen (nee Tiessen), 94, passed away peacefully on Sunday, February 9, 2025, at Bethania Mennonite Personal Care Home, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Elsie was predeceased by her husband George (2017), her son Harold (1962), her parents, Nikolei and Margaret Tiessen, and six siblings: Irene, John, Sophie, Nick, Louise and Robert.

Elsie is survived by four children: Sandi (John Enns), Shirley (Ron Banman), Brian (JoAnne, nee Walker) and Randy (Mary Ann Morris); eight grandchildren: Benjamin (Samantha), Riel, Tamika (Moe), Jared (Tonya), Kiera (Nick), Sol, Judith (Brad) and Dunavan (Zoe); and three great-grandchildren: Lukas, Caleb and Cora. She is also survived by five siblings: Martin, Margaret, Erwin, Walt and Ed, George’s sister Betty Dick, and numerous nieces and nephews.

Elsie was born on April 16, 1930, on a farm near Rivers, Manitoba, at the beginning of the Great Depression to recently arrived immigrants from Russia. She was the oldest of 15 children – 12 of whom survived infancy. Life was difficult but she was surrounded by a large, loving family. When Elsie was a teenager, the family moved to Leamington, Ontario, where her parents continued to farm. Although Elsie would have loved to have finished high school, she was required to help on the farm.

Elsie met the love of her life, George, and in 1955, they married. George and Elsie owned and operated a variety of small businesses, including garden centers and convenience stores. This eventually brought them to Steinbach, Manitoba. Later Elsie worked a wide variety of jobs, from apartment manager to health care aide, to caterer, to co-managing (with George) a general store in a remote northern First Nations community. It took Elsie a bit of time to slow down after retirement, as she and George travelled to Akron Pennsylvania for several winters, where they volunteered full-time with the Mennonite Central Committee. Elsie and George lived in Kelowna with Sandi and John for three years. There they enjoyed using their gardening skills to create the most beautiful yard on the street.

Her family and her faith were the most important parts of Elsie’s life, and she enjoyed visiting right until the day before she passed away. Everyone will remember Elsie’s sense of humor, and her ability to tell great jokes while keeping a straight face. Her family always teased her about her restlessness, as she was always threatening, well into her eighties, to look for a job. Her restlessness led her to make frequent moves, even in her nineties, and the running joke was: will this be her last move? We were sure her move to Bethania, just five days prior to passing, would be her last, as she seemed truly at peace there.

The family would like to thank the staff at Rosewood Supportive Living, Fred Douglas Place, and Bethania Personal Care Home.

Elsie will be interred at the Heritage Cemetery in Steinbach.

A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date.

• mySteinbach Jobs
• Steinbach Homes
• Steinbach Real Estate
• Steinbach Jobs
• RSS Feeds
• Get in Touch