Businesswoman, community activist.
Born at Schoenwiese on 26 January 1920 to Isaac and Helena Wiens, she moved with her parents and five brothers to McCreary in 1932, where she helped on the family farm. At age 20, she moved to Winnipeg to enrol in business school. After graduation, she worked for a few years, then in 1944 married Harry Clayton Rand (1920-2002). Together they purchased a farm at Amaranth. In 1951, with their three small children, she and her husband moved to Austin, where she became an MTS telephone agent and continued until the area changed over to dial in 1968. When her husband started an electrical business, she became its bookkeeper and purchaser, making frequent buying trips to Winnipeg and Brandon.
Although she had been raised in the Mennonite culture, she joined the United Church in Austin, and became active in that church until moving to Winnipeg almost 50 years later. She was a regular in the choir, and a member first of the Young Women’s Auxiliary and later United Church Women. In the early years of the Manitoba Agricultural Museum at Austin, she represented those church groups in its concession stand and dining hall food services. After her children were grown, she became an active member in the Canadian Red Cross, knitting, canvassing for donations, and performing any duties asked of her. She earned a number of certificates of recognition for her work and was given a Governor General's award in recognition of her service to the Red Cross. She faithfully attended the annual general meetings, many times taking one of her grandchildren with her.
She enjoyed travelling, and with her husband and family explored many destinations all over North America. Her main interests outside of work were photography and cultivating a wide variety of plants and flowers, both inside and outside her house.
She died at Winnipeg on 14 May 2005 and was buried in the Austin Cemetery.
Obituary [Harry Clayton Rand], Winnipeg Free Press, 13 September 2002.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 28 May 2005.
This page was prepared by Lois Braun.
Page revised: 20 August 2022
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