Dorothy Susan Pauls (nee Sawatzky)
1927 – 2023
We mourn deeply the passing of Dorothy Susan Pauls (nee Sawatzky) on Monday, March 6, 2023 in St. Boniface Hospital at the age of 95.
Dorothy was born on August 17, 1927 in Morden Manitoba, the third child in a family of eight children. She attended Morden Maple Leaf School for six years, after which she stayed at home to help with cooking and childcare. Growing up, Dorothy displayed a keen interest in making things. A ball of wool was continually knitted, unraveled and knitted again; and a first pair of high heels were designed and crafted out of wood. Later she would receive sewing lessons from Katie Dalke, a local seamstress. A lifetime of sewing projects followed. When times were tough, discarded men’s suits were taken apart and retailored as women’s suits. Dorothy sewed for others for a while but when the local grocery store, ‘J & G’ offered her a job as a clerk, she gladly restricted herself to sewing for personal interest. She worked as a clerk in this store until two weeks before her wedding on October 5, 1952.
As a young girl, Dorothy shared with her mother a desire to be a good person and to become a Christian. During this conversation, she accepted Jesus Christ as her personal savior. Later she would be baptized upon the confession of her faith in the Morden Bergthaler Church. This early commitment guided Dorothy’s personal decisions and instilled within her a compassionate, helpful spirit. Throughout her life, the church served as a social and work context. As a youth, she attended Sunday School, served as secretary for the “Jugendverein”, and sang in the church choir.
It was in this church setting that Dorothy noticed and responded to a shy minister’s son, Jacob Pauls, agreeing to become his life partner. Together they farmed, entered church ministry, raised a family, and made studies and travel a way of life. Despite many moves Jake and Dorothy had two new houses built and Dorothy sewed curtains and décor for both. Dorothy accompanied Jake to Winnipeg where he studied theology at CMBC, and to Elkhart, Indiana where he studied at AMBS. There she experienced the educational and freeing opportunity to converse with other ministers’ wives in a neutral setting.
The return to Manitoba again presented new challenges and opportunities. While Jake acted as Director of Camp Assiniboia, Dorothy served as head cook. When they moved to Altona where Jake taught theology at Elim Bible School and later served as pastor at Altona Bergthaler Church, Dorothy worked at Reimer’s Fabric Store. When Jake accepted the position of pastor at Bethel Mennonite Church, Jake and Dorothy moved to Winnipeg in 1977. Again Dorothy played a supportive role to Jake by accompanying him on visitations, hosting many work related visitors and managing Jake’s sartorial needs, especially for travel. Dorothy also participated in much of the travel related to Jake’s work. Together they attended two European world conferences, several Canadian and American conferences, two study tours of the Middle East and finally an Asian and an African trip in preparation for the world conference in Winnipeg in 1990. While Dorothy enjoyed travelling abroad, she appreciated most of all the trips taken with the family. Once asked how she liked Europe, she remarked succinctly, “Oh, it was nice.”
During retirement Dorothy, like Jake, did more of that with which she was familiar. While Jake accepted several positions as an interim pastor, Dorothy continued homemaking, sewing and traveling. She even traveled to Indiana with Vera to visit Gerald at Goshen College and took some pride in this independent adventure. But changes were to come when Gerald married Lora Braun, and a small family soon followed. Dorothy felt privileged to sew Lora’s wedding gown, quilts and curtains for their home, as well as kimonos for her grandsons. But she knew time was against her. Dearly she wished to see Simon and Rowan grow up, but inevitably advancing old age cut short that opportunity. Declining health dictated a move first from the house on Bryn Mawr to the Lindenwood Condo and finally to the assisted living facility at the Lindenwood Terrace. A serious fall in April, 2022 resulted in Dorothy’s taking up care home residency, living apart from Jake after 70 years of marriage. This past February she suffered another fall from which she would not recover. Peacefully she surrendered to the call of her Lord to leave loved ones behind and return to her spiritual home.
Dorothy will be lovingly remembered by her husband Jacob F. Pauls; her children, Vera Pauls and Gerald Pauls; her grandsons, Simon Pauls and Rowan Braun; her siblings and in-laws, Verna (Sawatzky) Enns, Leona (Penner) Sawatzky, Ron Sawatzky, Harvey and Margaret (Penner) Sawatzky, and many nieces and nephews and their families.
Dorothy was predeceased by her parents David R. and Marie (Klassen) Sawatzky, an infant son Vernon James (stillborn), a daughter-in-law, Lora Braun; siblings and in-laws, Abe Enns, Rudy and Alma (Janzen) Sawatzky, Art Sawatzky, Henry and Anne Marie (Sawatzky) Bock, Anne (Martens) Sawatzky, Pearl Sawatzky, as well as a niece and two nephews.
Funeral service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, March 13, 2023 at Bethel Mennonite Church, 465 Stafford Street, Winnipeg, with viewing prior to service. Interment at South Side Cemetery, Morden, MB.
Service will be livestreamed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7CPdt9Zk88
Donations in memory of Dorothy may be made to Mennonite Central Committee.