Verna grew up on a dairy farm near Hepburn, Sask. She attended the one-room school at New Home. After high school in Hepburn, she attended Bethany College, where she met John. Verna and John married in the Hepburn MB Church in 1959. After a brief stay in Saskatoon, they moved to Winnipeg. Verna worked at Ogilvie Flour Mills while John attended college and university. In 1970, John and Verna and their seven children moved to Manitou, Man., where John taught high school. Verna was a stay-at-home mom, raising eight children (the eighth having been added in Manitou). When they were grown, she took a healthcare aide course and worked in a care home for 15 years. She was loved by those she served. Every summer Verna would grow a huge and beautiful flower garden – enjoying the compliments of passersby. John and Verna moved to Kelowna, B.C., in 2017, downsizing from a heritage house in Manitou to a 2-bedroom apartment. They soon had many new friends and enjoyed an active social life. Verna especially liked sewing blankets for Mennonite Central Committee with her sewing club at Willow Park Church. Verna was bubbly and joyful; she was a people person with an infectious laugh and a trusting smile. Her college yearbook described her as full of “vim, vigour, and vitality, with a grade A personality.” She loved talking to people personally; it was never enough to just post a “like” online – she needed to hear their voice. She made friends easily and had a way of bringing out the best in people.
The burial of Verna Heinrichs will be live-streamed on www.springfieldfuneralhome.com on Friday, January 14, 1 pm (Pacific) and be available thereafter.
