Sara Henry (Neumann) Loewen was born March 9, 1915 in Slavgorod, Asiatic Russia.  Yes, Henry.  When leaving Russia the children needed a middle name for passport purposes, so they all got their father’s name.  She was Henry and Sarah Neumann’s oldest daughter.  She grew up in a village that did not have a church and consequently, attended church very seldom during the first ten years of her life. She remembers a happy childhood due to adequate food, clothes to wear, and a large family that always had fun together.

     On their arrival in Saskatchewan, in 1926, and at the age of 11, Sara was put to work ($5.00/month) in a nearby home where she gave assistance to a bed-ridden woman, helping with her husband and five children.  After moving to Gerald, Saskatchewan, she was able to attend school with her siblings and completed the equivalent of grade 7. 

     In the fall of 1936, she joined her brothers for a trip to BC, for brother Henry’s wedding. She decided to stay, and found work as a maid, in Vancouver, living in the Bethel Maedchenheim (Girls’ Home). In the winter, she attended Bible School. It was that same year that she was baptized as a believer in Christ, in the Yarrow M.B. Church. The next year found her back in Calgary, Alberta, where she found employment and met her future husband, Martin Loewen. The two had a three-month courtship, after which they were married on November 27, 1937, in Gem, Alberta. The pending union did not sit well, at first, with Sara’s parents, because she was from the Mennonite Brethren persuasion while Martin was from the ‘worldly’ General Conference Mennonite persuasion.  Her friends in the Maedchenheim (Girls’ Home) in Calgary even had prayer meetings that Sara would be ‘delivered’ from this relationship.

     For the first 10 years of their marriage, they lived in Calgary. Martin worked at several places and supplemented the family income with a small vegetable business on the side. They were able to build and pay for a house in Calgary. Adjustment to city living was not always that easy. Among the adjustments (a big one), was attending a United Church since a Mennonite Church was not accessible. Toward the end of their time in Calgary, Sara and Martin were part of the founding group of First Mennonite Church.

     One of the happiest times of her life, she said, came in 1947, when she, Martin, and their young family of five moved to Abbotsford, BC. Their property was a bush-covered 20 acres at 1357 Emerson Road (later renamed Gladwin). After sufficient land had been cleared, they planted strawberries and raised chickens on the land. They soon changed to raspberries and dairy cows as their principle livelihood, and by 1951, Martin had resumed his earlier passion for fruit & vegetable wholesale, establishing Hub Produce Ltd., which sustained his family of 10 until his retirement. Sara loved living in the Fraser Valley and had always regarded it as her favourite place to live. Three more children were added to their family, bringing the total to 8 – four girls and four boys.

     Even though Sara’s formal education was quite limited, her knowledge, reasoning power and debating skills were not. Part of that was due to her lineage, however, she is remembered as being a voracious reader in her earlier years. Weekly trips were made to the libraries in Calgary and Abbotsford, and she encouraged her children in their educational and career goals.

     Her vocabulary was enhanced by many hours of playing Scrabble. She loved playing games—Rook and Canasta in earlier years, followed by years filled with hours of Aggravation, Dominoes, Skip-bo and more Aggravation.  In fact, Aggravation was the last game she played with family members.  She met regularly to play games with friends in the condo, and phone calls and visits were scheduled around her game nights. 

     She took an avid interest in current events, especially politics – even American, and loved sports.  In Calgary she listened to hockey games on the radio, and also watched the World Series every year.  When the Boston Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds were in that close series during the 70’s, she confessed that she even stayed home from Bible study to watch the seventh and deciding game.

     Sally was no stranger to work. In the early years in Abbotsford, she spent many hours in the berry fields in addition to her housework. There were the weeks of picking hops when she and her sister, Kay Janzen, would take their children for long days of picking hops. In the evenings they would make meals, do laundry, bake schnetke and peroschkie for the next day’s meals. She acted as bookkeeper for Martin’s produce business, and in the late 1950’s, when Martin purchased a store in Clearbrook, Sara added yet another skill to her growing repertoire – meat sales and rendering lard.

     During the 1960’s and 70’s, Sara spent many summer nights, during berry season, working at the cannery, saving for the trips she looked forward to taking. Her travels included Haiti and the Caribbean Islands, Europe, Australia & New Zealand. Throughout their married life, Sara and Martin not only made regular trips to Alberta to visit family, but also travelled south on numerous occasions with Jake & sister, Helen Harder, as well as many weekend trips to Seattle on their own.

     Somehow, amidst all this business, she found time to make her home a warm and inviting place, with plenty of freshly-baked goods and delicious meals. She will be remembered for her hospitality – single friends and extended family in Calgary and B.C.  Friends of her children were always welcome, whether it was for refreshments after caroling or for toast after Wednesday Bible studies. Her home was open to family, friends, and relatives who dropped in for watermelon and rollkuchen or for a bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup. If only her kitchen table could speak, the recalling of those memories would fill many pages.

     Sara confided in her grandson that she had never been one who dwelt much on the past because those things could never be changed – one could only learn from one’s mistakes. She always had a good home, she said, and was always content in what she had. She trusted the Lord all her life and leaned on Him when she needed Him most. She reflected that her life had been fairly “even keel,” and that she thought that she had grown up in the best of times.

     Sara appreciated and nurtured relationships with her extended family.  For the most part, she was referred to as Sally, especially by her siblings. Sally always ensured that her family participated in extended family gatherings at Christmas and Easter, not to mention the annual Neumann “Corn Roasts” that she and husband Martin hosted at their farm in Abbotsford for many years. One of her last regrets was not being able to participate in the annual March Neumann birthday celebration she shared with her brother, Dave.

     Sally and Martin were active members of the West Abbotsford Mennonite Church from the time they moved to Abbotsford. Martin ushered and served on a variety of external committees, as well as serving on the Mennonite Benevolent Society Board and Executive for 17 years. He was a founding board member of the Menno Home in Abbotsford. Sara was a key member of the women’s leadership in church—Ladies Aid, Sunday School teacher, Bible Study leader, and in the years after Martin’s passing, she was elected as the first female deacon at West Abbotsford. In addition to her church involvements, she served on the MEI Ladies Auxilliary, while her children attended the school, and in the early 1980’s, she was a charter member of the Clearbrook Golden Age Society, serving in the community centre. 

     Martin died of cancer on September 26, 1978, at age 71. Sally lived another 22 years. She suffered from congestive heart failure and experienced several strokes, passing away on March 29, 2000, at the age of 85. Their direct descendants number 33 (2023).