When Maria was 3, her mother died, and her father married Margaret Warkentin Bargen. In the 1930s, the family was removed from their home in the night and found refuge with Maria’s brother. Her father sent her to work in another town; when she returned a few years later in 1934, she learned he was dead. Maria worked in a forestry camp and a maternity hospital. A year into their marriage, Maria and Gerhard mourned infant daughter Maria. In 1943, they and their new son left Sagradovka Colony with the retreating German army. In Poland, Gerhard was drafted into the German army, and Maria never heard from him again. She continued to Germany, and in 1948, immigrated to Canada, settling in Arnold, B.C. In 1950, Maria moved to the Tessaro farm to do housekeeping, cooking, and childcare for Joseph Tessaro’s sons. Maria and Joe married, and she accompanied him to 2 logging camps, where she worked in the cookhouse and caught fish. She was very independent until her stroke in 2011. Maria had a lifelong love of books. She joined Clearbrook MB Church, Abbotsford, B.C., in 1997. She was at peace with God.
