A is for Automobile City. This is Steinbach’s nickname and recognizes the city’s many car dealerships. My husband and I have owned many cars we bought from Steinbach car dealers.
B is for Bethesda Hospital founded in 1937. My father was a doctor at Bethesda Hospital for many decades.
C is for The Carillon the local paper which has reported the news since 1946. I have written a column for The Carillon since 1985.
D is for David Bergen, the Giller Prize-winning author who used Steinbach as a setting for his book The Age of Hope. My husband used to play basketball with David Bergen.
E is for Jake Epp, Steinbach’s first federal cabinet minister. Jake Epp was my high school history teacher. I once wrote a feature story about Lydia Epp Jake Epp’s wife for a magazine. When Dave and I were living in Hong Kong Jake Epp visited the city on business and took us out for dinner.
Grace Mennonite Church in Steinbach Manitoba
F is for Faith. Steinbach has more than 25 churches. My husband and I are former members of one of those churches, Grace Mennonite.
G is for German, the heritage language of Steinbach’s original settlers. I studied German as a second language for five years in Steinbach schools.
With my grade two students at Elmdale School in the Hanover School Division in 1982
H is for the Hanover School Division which is responsible for all the schools in Steinbach. My husband and I were employed as teachers by the Hanover School Division for more than thirty years.
I is for It’s Worth The Trip the now famous advertising slogan that encourages people to drive out from Winnipeg to shop and visit in Steinbach. Although we live in Winnipeg my husband makes the trip to Steinbach several times a week to golf there.
J is for John Diefenbaker, the Canadian Primeminister who visited Steinbach in 1958. My brother, who was 3 when my family moved to Steinbach used to call him Mr Beefinbacon.
Mural in downtown Steinbach of Kornelson School.
K is for Kornelson School, the first public school in Steinbach. I attended school here in grades three and four.
L is for the public library. It opened in 1973 largely due to the efforts of Mary Barkman. I was on the board of directors of the library for several years and served as board chair for one year.
M is for Miriam Toews who grew up in Steinbach and whose book A Complicated Kindness is set in Steinbach. It won the Governor General’s Award for fiction in 2004. Miriam’s father Melvin was my grade seven teacher.
N is for names. The Steinbach telephone directory has more than a 100 Reimers, 72 Barkmans, more than 100 Penners, 79 Derksens, more than a 100 Friesens and 82 Neufelds. We count many Reimers, Barkmans, Penners, Derksens, Friesens and Neufelds among our friends.
O is for ‘on the air.’ Steinbach’s radio station is CHSM 1250. When I taught journalism at the Steinbach Regional Secondary School my students and I planned and produced a regular radio program for the station.
P is for Pete’s Inn, one of the first restaurants in Steinbach. I’ll never forget when I was 12 and my mother gave me permission for the first time to go to Pete’s Inn for a milkshake and fries after school with my friends.
Q is for the Queen who visited Steinbach in 1970. I didn’t see here on that visit because our family was away on a vacation but she visited Winnipeg when I was six and my Dad was an intern at St. Boniface Hospital. He took me up on the hospital rooftop to watch the Queen’s motorcade drive down Tache Avenue.
R is for the Rubbernacle a tire storage building that was cleaned out and spruced up so evangelical crusades could be held there. I walked past the Rubbernacle often, but don’t ever remember going inside. ( rubber- because they stored tires there- nacle– the second part of the word tabernacle and made reference to the religious crusades held there)
Anna Schilstra was a doctor in Steinbach in the early 1900s
S is for Anna Shilstra one of Canada’s first female doctors who practised in Steinbach nearly a hundred years ago. I once wrote her life story after interviewing many people who had known her. It was published as a special feature in The Carillon.
The Steinbach Treble Teens participate in A Mosiac of Music in April of 1970- I’m the very furthest to the right standing and leaning on the door
T is for the Treble Teens a professional girls choir based in Steinbach. I sang in the Treble Teens for two years.
U is for Ukraine, the place from which most of the early Steinbach residents immigrated. My grandparents and my husband’s grandparents were born in Ukraine. In 2011 we visited their birthplaces.
The Steinbach Stealers ball team. My husband Dave is second from the left in the back row and Vic Peters is second from the right in the front row.
V is for Vic Peters, a national curling champion who grew up in Steinbach. Vic played fastball with my husband Dave on the Steinbach Stealers team.
Windmill on the grounds of the Steinbach Mennonite Heritage Village Museum
W is for the working windmill at the Steinbach Village Heritage Museum. I have often visited it, watched its grinding stone in action and stood on its balcony enjoying the view. I’ve also done baking with flour from this mill. I included a windmill in my novel Lost on the Prairie because of my experiences visiting the windmill in Steinbach.
X is for eXcellent views. Steinbach has some scenic spots. This bridge was on the route of my daily walks the last decade we lived in Steinbach.
Y is for yummy Mennonite food you can order at the restaurant at the Steinbach Mennonite Heritage Village Museum. I love the borscht soup and farmers’ sausage perishky.
We took friends from India to visit the zemlin at the museum.
Z is for zemlin a home for some of the first settlers in Steinbach. They were built partially underground and had sod roofs. There is a zemlin at the Mennonite Heritage Village Museum. I’ve often been inside it and I am always surprised how cool it is in the zemlin even on a hot summer day.
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Really enjoyed your thoughts on the different “alphabet” interpretations and pictures. The “R” Rubbernacle, actually came much later than the tabernacle where I would go to to see “pictures” , gospel reel to reel movies of missionary work etc. This would have been late 40’s, early 50’s.
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What a beautiful blessing to see your grade 2 class picture with our son and brother Stephen who passed away the following school year. He loved Mrs. Driedger and everything about Elmdale school!❤️
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