Fonds PP - Al Reimer fonds

Elmer Edgar Ernest Reimer was born on May 30, 1927, in Prairie Rose (now Landmark), Manitoba, Canada, the first child of Peter J. B. Reimer (1902-1988) and Elisabeth Kehler (1903-1946). Al, as he was called by all who knew him, grew up in Steinbach, Manitoba, and received his primary and secondary education in the town where his father taught school and served as a minister in the Kleine Gemeinde Church (later named the Evangelical Mennonite Conference). In 1947, Al graduated with Grade 12 from the Steinbach Collegiate as the valedictorian at the graduation ceremony.
Al first taught in public schools at the Willow Heights School in McTavish, MB, and at Peguis School (1945-1946). He also worked at a paper mill and a resort in Pine Falls where he met his future wife, and in a broker’s office in Toronto. In 1951, Al married Joan Frederick (b. May 18, 1930, d. April 6, 2011) who encouraged his aspirations for further education. Together they raised three children. Joan remained Al’s supportive and devoted wife for 60 years.
After studying singing and drama in Winnipeg and Vancouver for three years and training as an opera singer, then working briefly as a stockbroker in Toronto, Al began his post-secondary studies in 1953 and graduated in 1957 with a Bachelor of Arts degree (Honours) from United College in Winnipeg where he won the Woodrow Wilson National Scholarship, the Isbister Scholarship, and a scholarship from Yale. He earned his Master of Arts degree from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1958. In 1960, United College (renamed the University of Winnipeg in 1967) invited him to be a lecturer in the English Department where he taught literature while continuing with his graduate studies. He won two Canada Council Pre-Doctoral Fellowships, enabling him to complete his doctoral studies. In 1968, he was awarded a Ph.D. from Yale; he titled his dissertation “The Early Works of Edward Young: Some Versions of the Sublime” wherein he analysed the early works of the eighteenth-century English poet and clergyman.
Professor Reimer continued his teaching career at the University of Winnipeg, teaching English literature (Restoration-era, Neoclassical, twentieth-century, and Canadian), as well as literary criticism in the English Department, where he remained until his retirement in 1990. His former students have described him as insightful and keen, energizing and genuine, caring and kind.
Among Al’s many interests were the arts—literature, opera, theatre, movie reviews, and revitalizing Low-German. He served as editor of the Mennonite Mirror from 1978 to 1987 and a commentator on CBC Radio. Al was among the founding members of the Mennonite Literary Society, Inc., and wrote regularly for the Journal of Mennonite Studies where he served as Associate Editor. Al gave many readings in Low German to appreciative audiences. A founding board member of the Manitoba Opera Association, he was also very involved with Prairie Performances Manitoba, Inc. in Winnipeg, and a theatre, concert, and movie reviewer and commentator for CBC Winnipeg. He often sang in his church choirs, both in Winnipeg and with Joan in Arizona in his retirement years.
A prolific writer, in addition to his novel My Harp is Turned to Mourning (Hyperion Press, 1985), Al wrote and published a collection of short stories When War Came to Kleindarp and other Kleindarp Stories (2008), he translated and edited two German books into English, and with colleagues he transcribed and translated much of Arnold Dyck’s Low-German works. He also wrote Mennonite Literary Voices: Past and Present (Bethel College, 1993) and co-edited A Sackful of Plautdietsch. In between, he wrote numerous articles for periodicals (see his review of Miriam Toews’s novel A Complicated Kindness in Mennonite Life, 2005), conferences, special lectures, as well as eulogies and tributes. The correspondence he engaged in with colleagues, friends, and family is as profuse as his collection of research materials and notes for his novel and for his short stories, for his numerous articles and guest lectures, and for his continuing interest in the world.
After a significant journey to Ukraine to the villages of his ancestors with his father and brother in 1971 that he indicated affected him profoundly, Al came to value his ethnic heritage deeply. He went on to serve as tour leader on several more tours to Ukraine, Europe, and the now-former USSR.
Al filled his later years by continuing his work with literature, the arts, history, with colleagues, and with his close and extended family. Al died at his home on December 22, 2015. He was predeceased by his much-loved wife Joan, one son, and two sisters; he was survived by a son and a daughter, five grandchildren, a brother and one sister, and countless friends. Al Reimer left a rich legacy of work, largely relating to the literary world of Mennonites. His obituary described him well: “Until the very end, Al supported the sublime with uncurbed enthusiasm. He was never bored and had no regrets”. Al Reimer was interred in the Rosenort Evangelical Mennonite Church Cemetery in southern Manitoba.

For further reading, see
Roy Vogt, “A Tribute to Al Reimer on his "Retirement”” in Journal of Mennonite Studies 1991 http://jms.uwinnipeg.ca/index.php/jms/article/view/325/325
Ralph Friesen, “Al Reimer, May 30, 1927-December 22, 2015.” Rhubarb. Web. 15 August 2016. http://rhubarbmag.com/al-reimer-may-30-1927-december-22-2015
James Urry, “Al Reimer (1927-2015).” Journal of Mennonite Studies 34 (2016): 351-353.
Rudi Engbrecht, “In Celebration of Dr. Al Reimer…” in Farewell to Al, 1927-2015, coll. and publ. by Syd Reimer, comp. and ed. by Dianne Hildebrand, (2022), pp. 80-91.
For his obituary, see REIMER, ELMER - Obituaries - Winnipeg Free Press Passages at https://passages.winnipegfreepress.com/passage-details/id-291825/Reimer_Dr