KRAHN: Anna Margaretha “Anne” (nee Penner), age 94 years, entered the presence of her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, on Saturday, December 24, 2022 at the Riverdale Health Centre, Rivers, Manitoba. Born April 5, 1928, in Gretna, Manitoba, to Jacob and Margaretha Penner, German Mennonite immigrants from Ukraine. She was the fifth of seven children and the first to be born in Canada. Various communities in eastern Manitoba and the Interlake became the family’s home because of Jacob’s work as a schoolteacher, including Grunthal, Dallas, and Steinbach. Due to the shortage of teachers during World War 2, and before she had finished high school, Anne was asked to teach for a year at the one-room Cedar Grove School, near Marchand, MB, a task for which she felt woefully unprepared. The following year she attended Mennonite Collegiate Institute in Gretna for Grade 12 where she met George Krahn of Rivers. This began a love that endured through four years of letters and 66 years of marriage. After high school, Anne worked as a housemaid in several prominent Winnipeg homes, sending money home to her parents and saving for a treadle sewing machine of her own. She took a course in sewing to hone her skills and enjoyed creating detailed and delightful clothes for herself, for children and grandchildren, and most memorably, for dolls. Anne and George were married October 7, 1950 and moved to the Krahn farm east of Rivers where they farmed for 60 years. Their disappointment that the car they hoped to use on a honeymoon was wrecked the morning of their wedding turned to excitement in 1966 with a trip to Disneyland, California accompanied by dear, fun-loving friends. For Anne, farm life meant growing flowers as well as garden produce to freeze and preserve, and enjoying the beauties of nature. She often expanded the family table to include anyone who arrived to work or visit. She became well-known for her delicious fruit pies which often found their way to people in distress, and for her sympathetic ear and encouragement for many a downtrodden soul. Four children were born to George and Anne - Rudy, Becky, Eleanor, and Ted - and these were always assured of their mom’s love, interest, and supportive prayers. Besides raising a family in the Christian faith, some of Anne’s greatest achievements were overcoming. She overcame shyness beginning with the book How to Win Friends and Influence People, eventually perfecting the art of drawing out and listening to people. She overcame her fear of water when, in her forties, she enrolled in a “scared spitless” swim class. And she overcame a long-standing fear of driving when she passed her driver’s test for the first time at age 65. Most importantly, Anne overcame a deep personal depression in the early 1950s when God prompted her to make certain her eternal destiny. She took Jesus at His word when He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.” John 11:25, 26. Anne began to regularly listen to Back to the Bible radio broadcasts and enrolled in their Bible lessons. From there, her hunger to know Jesus increased, helped by a Bible study with others in the community. Her joy grew into a love of teaching children in summer Vacation Bible school as well as decades of teaching Sunday School to 4- and 5-year-olds. The love of learning never left her and despite poor eyesight in recent years, she carefully studied Scripture until the day her faith became sight. Anne had a phenomenal memory, beginning with memorizing 300 Bible verses to earn a week at summer camp as a youngster, and continuing into adulthood when she spent several years participating in the Bible Memory Association program. She could recite many poems and knew the birthdays of all extended family which she used as reminders to pray for them. Anne loved children, jokes and puns, spelling gaffes, and word games like Scrabble, and often used her creativity to write rhyming thank you notes. Kindness and selflessness personified Anne - a woman of deep faith and great love - and her children and grandchildren “rise up and call her blessed.” Anne is survived by four children, Rudy (Marena) Krahn, Becky (Keith) Magill, Eleanor (Mike) Bertin, and Ted (Rhonda) Krahn; sixteen grandchildren; Krystena (Ian) Herbert, Anna (Ben) Larson, Catherine Magill, Stephen (Megan) Magill, Esther (Chris) Crane, John (Rebekah) Magill, and Elizabeth (Valeri) Birnbaum, Ben (Christy) Bertin, Dan (Cara) Bertin, Tommy (Erika) Bertin, Becky (John) Hurst, Jonny (Kass) Bertin, and Timothy Bertin, Alyssa (Derek) Friesen, Josh Krahn, and Heidi (Alex) McPherson and thirty-two great-grandchildren; one sister, Erica Lepp; four sisters-in-law, Katherine Penner, Lydia Penner, Helen Krahn, and Helen (Tony) Klassen, as well as many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her husband, George in 2016; parents, Margaretha and Jacob; sister-in-law Annie Krahn; sisters Margaret Martens and Mary Wiens, brothers John Penner, Rudy Penner, and Jake Penner, brothers-in-law John Krahn and Henry Krahn, and grandson Paul Bertin. Anne will be laid to rest beside her husband, George, in a private family graveside service at Rivers Mennonite Cemetery, Rivers, MB. The Memorial Service will take place at McDiarmid Drive Alliance Church, 635 McDiarmid Drive, Brandon on Monday, July 3, 2023 at 1:30 p.m.. Donations in memory of Anne may be made to McDiarmid Drive Alliance Church, Building for the Future Fund, 635 McDiarmid Drive, Brandon, MB, R7B 2H6.