Book 41 About Those Reimers*** by Elizabeth Reimer Bartel

This book is a memoir by a cousin of my mother's, Betty Reimer.   Beautifully written, and blessed with several wicked poems, I thoroughly enjoyed this story.   The Reimer family established a general store in the 1870's in Steinbach, Manitoba, and the memoir chronicles the history of the store, through the personal experiences of a child and teenager.  

I read the first chapters based in Steinbach carefully to make sure I found any new scuttlebut but the book mainly fills in details of the story told to me by my mother (Evelyn).   The main secret of the family is how Aunt Annie's romance was sabotaged by Uncle Henry for reasons unknown.   Rumour abounds.

Betty (now Elizabeth) tells the story of her upbringing in Steinbach, first as a relatively privileged granddaughter of a prominent businessman, H. W. Reimer, and her life growing up and working in the huge general store, and later as a much poorer teenager when her father left the family business and the town to start his own business.   Well told, the story paints a clear picture of real people living those years in the foreground of the history of Canada in depression, war, and recovery.

She alludes to the Reimer tendency to independent action and wild impractical dreams without the grit to plan and execute them or consider those others whom it may affect.   Heaven knows the family is full of renowned characters who prove this point, especially the male family heads in each generation.  She also describes the Mennonite system of inheritance (European system) and how the Reimer money and business were dissipated by decades of fighting amongst the heirs.  

The eye openers are there too.  When I lived there in the 50s and 60s, the whole town seemed uniformly conservative and stifled by the Kleinegemeinde church.   Betty's memories are broader in perspective and describe more liberal ideas and behaviours than I had imagined existed in those early years of the 20th century.  

I was moved by the struggle of my parents' generation to get a high school education, even for those with rich grandparents.  Heaven knows my mother described this desperation to me many times.   And I admired the bravery of those young men who joined the armed forces against strong opposition from home.   Leaving home for them meant learning vernacular English, trying to fit in with the mainstream of Canadians, and facing ostracism for being "German".

I was brought to tears at her mention of her sisters and the bond between sisters being the strongest of all bonds, because sisters are the most closely related.  

A strong recommendation to anybody who knows Steinbach.  And let me know what you think please.