Anne Harms (nee Heide)
Obituary
Anne Harms (nee Heide) was born to Jacob and Katharina (Dueck) Heide on July 15, 1928, on their farm between Boissevain and Whitewater. Her parents immigrated to Manitoba from the Molotschna Colony in Ukraine in late 1926 with a family of six children, the youngest then being two weeks old, and had five more children born in Canada, with Anne being the first of those five.
Anne died peacefully in her sleep on August 1, 2026 at the age of 98, not long after being admitted to the St. Boniface hospital on July 30 with chest pain and difficulty breathing. She was moved into a palliative care room the following afternoon. She knew the end was near and she said she was ready for what lay ahead. Many family members were able to see her in the hospital before she passed.
Anne was predeceased by her husband of nearly 75 years, Jake Harms who died in March of 2025, and by a son, Alfred, who died hours after his birth in 1963. She will be lovingly remembered by her six children and their spouses, Ken and Sharon Harms, Kathy and Eric Fast, Jake and Helene Harms, Ron and Dianna Harms, Ray and Eileen Harms and Gerry and Karin Harms, as well as 20 grandchildren and 24 great grandchildren. In her words, “What a blessing they are!”
She is also survived by her brother Abe Heide and his wife Grace of Steinbach, her brother-in-law Henry Buhler, by her late husband’s sister, Elsie (Harms) and her husband Peter Dyck of Boissevain, and by many nieces and nephews.
Anne’s formal education consisted taking Grades 1 to 8 at Strathallan School, a one-room country school located 1 1/2 miles from home, and completing Grade 9 through correspondence. Later in her youth, she completed one year of study at Elim Bible School in Altona. In 1977, when Jake was studying at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart Indiana, she enjoyed a course in Mennonite history with C.J. Dyck.
Anne was baptized in the Whitewater Mennonite Church in 1947. At this church she met and fell in love with Jake Harms. They were married on June 16, 1950. They first lived on a rented farm. Five years later they bought her parents’ farm where she herself was born and raised. Here they raised their six children and really taught them how to work. To give credit where it’s due, she bore the lion’s share of raising the children as Jake was so busy with the farm and with his church and conference work, sometimes being away for a week at a time conducting deeper life services in some other province. During those times, she had to manage the farm as well as the family. This was hard work.
For a brief stint in the early 60s, the whole family moved to Altona to allow Jake to experience radio ministry. When Jake received a call to become the leading pastor at Sargent Avenue Mennonite Church in Winnipeg in 1971, most of the family moved to the city. They bought a house on Buckingham Road in Charleswood with a yard big enough for Anne to continue to have a large vegetable garden to support her family. In the early 90s, they moved from Charleswood to Wiebe’s Drive in North Kildonan where Anne and Jake joined the Douglas Mennonite Church community. In 2010, they sold their house and moved into a life lease apartment at Cornerstone Estates where they continued to host many friends and visitors. Anne enjoyed this and was very good at it.
Anne and Jake travelled to many countries largely because of Jake’s involvement with COM (Commission of Overseas Missions) and with the Faith and Life Choir Tours. They also traveled to see Kathy and Eric at various times when they worked with MCC in Zambia, Nigeria and Botswana. After retirement, they also took on a six-month assignment in the Menno Colony in Mexico in 1996-97.
Family was very important to Anne. She welcomed each new addition to the family with lots of love and appreciation. In addition to buying Christmas gifts for everyone, she celebrated each birthday and each wedding anniversary with a card and gift bag for each such occasion.
She also really loved to play games with her family and friends. In the early years on the farm, this included active outdoor games like “sheep in my pen” and “kick the can”. In her later years, it included many games of Scrabble and Mexican train, as well as Wordfeud (an online version of Scrabble).
Anne enjoyed spending time online. She got her first tablet and email account 15 years ago and never looked back. She enjoyed following friends and relatives on Facebook and loved to connect with them via online chat programs and email.
Anne was gifted with a memory for details, especially details about families (not just her family), their birthdates and anniversaries, their family connections and so on. A few years ago, she was introduced to the Grandma database maintained by the CMU archives, and it wasn’t long before she started sending them corrections.
Life changed substantially after Jake’s passing. With the encouragement of her children, she moved to Bethel Place in February of this year where she quickly got to know a lot of the residents and their connections to others she knew. She often enjoyed a lunch at the restaurant at Bethel Place and often brought friends and family members to dine with her there. She also continued to host friends and family in her small apartment. She invited each grandchild to visit her at her new apartment and welcomed them warmly with a gift for each one.
In May of this year, she was welcomed as a member of Bethel Mennonite Church (next to Bethel Place) and felt right at home there. She felt blessed by the Bethel Church and Bethel Place communities, as well as the many other church communities that she was able to participate in. She will be fondly remembered and missed by many.
A memorial service to celebrate Anne’s life will be held on August 7, 2026, at 11:00 AM at Bethel Mennonite Church, 465 Stafford St, Winnipeg, MB.
