File 7 - Peter J. Reimer sermons

Peter J. Reimer, minister and farmer, was born on July 2, 1884 in the village of Osterwick, Chortitza Colony, South Russia. He was the fourth of eight children born to Jakob and Helena (nee Schulz) Reimer. Reimer attended the village school as well as trade school in Osterwick. In 1905 at the age of 19 he was baptized by Aeltester Isaak Dyck and joined the Chortitza Mennonite Church. Reimer did three years of forestry service between 1906-1909. He married his first wife, Anna Peters, May 23,1910. Their marriage produced two sons and two daughters of which two sons and one daughter survived. During the war he worked on trains for the medical corp. Reimer was elected by his home church on February 10 and ordained to the ministry on June 9, 1924. Anna died in 1925 and not long after, Reimer married Anganeta Petkau, a widow with two children of her own. On December 2, 1926 he and his family came to Canada where they bought a farm near Ste. Anne, Manitoba. Here they farmed until 1932. They joined the Schoenwieser Mennonite Church of Winnipeg from which he ministered to outlying groups. In 1942 Reimer was called to lead the newly formed Steinbach Mennonite Church. This was an unpaid pastorate and during those years he and his family found it hard to get by financially. In 1959 he retired. Peter J. Reimer died on January 29, 1962 as the result of a gradually deteriorating heart condition.