Abraham Friesen

Abraham (Abe) Friesen, age 91, of Southport, Manitoba, passed away peacefully at Portage District General Hospital, Portage la Prairie, MB, on October 7th, 2026.

He was born at his parents’ home in Kleefeld, Manitoba, to Jacob and Maria Friesen, the tenth of 13 children, on January 29, 1935.

He is survived by his beloved wife Mary, of 69 years, one daughter Darlene (Kevin), five sons: Daniel (Barb), Donald (Colleen), Darrell (Cari), David (Tracey) and Dale (Inna), four grandchildren: Matthew (Gaelyn), James (Sabrina), Katie, Mikayla, and seven great grandchildren.

Mourning the homegoing of their dear brother are Harvey (Doris) and Helen.

Abe was predeceased by his parents Jacob and Maria Friesen, brothers Frank, Peter, Albert, Jake, and sisters Annie, Mary, Lieza, Betty, Dora, Lillian, seven nieces and nephews and daughter-in-law Sandy.

Abe received his education in Kleefeld, Gruenfeld School, completing the eighth grade. Abe accepted Jesus as his personal Saviour at the age of 16 and was baptized together with his sister Lillian.

He attended Steinbach Bible Institute in Steinbach, Manitoba from 1954-1957. During the first year of Bible School he met the inimitable Mary Wiebe of Morden, Manitoba who later became his wife on September 1st, 1957. They planned on Abe completing a medical and dental course in Toronto, Ontario for ten months, returning to Manitoba, only to discover the Mexico mission plans were not meant to be fulfilled at that time. They lived briefly in Morden, then Grand Marais, where Abe taught religious classes in public school. He enjoyed teaching and was encouraged by another teacher to attend Teacher College and taught the following year, beginning with a one room school covering grades 1-8 in Altona, Schoental, and High Bluff, where he began taking evening and weekend classes at the University of Manitoba. They lived in Oakville for 5 years and then in 1972 moved to the present 20 acre hobby farm near Southport. He taught at Laverendrye School in Portage la Prairie for 24 years, retiring in 1992. During this season he was a pioneer in the arts and drama leading to productions such as “My Friend Flicka” and “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and church Christmas Plays. Abe also acquired his Pre Masters in Education at the U of M. At retirement he substituted at West Park School for several years.

With time, Abe, together with his wife, taught English to immigrants which brought them much satisfaction, as well as an award, photograph, and front page story in the The Daily Graphic.

Abe loved travelling, taking his family to western Canada, most likely teaching geography and history as they travelled. He loved mapping out trips and finding the most interesting routes. After retirement, Abe and Mary travelled to the Canadian east coast twice, several trips to the west coast, Seminole and Dallas, Texas, Mexico, California, Costa Rica, and South Korea.

Abe loved music, singing in quarters, duets with Mary, and duets with daughter-in-law Cari. He played guitar and harmonica.

Abe was healthy growing up. He worked on exercising his body and eating healthy foods. Charles Atlas was his revered model, or influencer in today’s lingo. Later in life he was also involved in church Hockey and Baseball teams.

He enjoyed photography, and doing slide presentations for many years to the delight of his family.

He and Mary enjoyed numerous marriage mile markers such as their 50th, 60th, 65th and most recently their 69th anniversary. These events were always celebrated with family, friends, and relatives and lots of good home cooked meals.

Thank you to all our family and friends for your support, many prayers, encouraging words, and items of food. Thank you to the nurses, and Dr. Hunter in particular, who provided great care for our husband, father, and brother at the Portage District General Hospital.