Giving his life to one small church, one community

The funeral service for Larry Thiessen, held June 14 in the Souris (Man.) and Glenwood Memorial sports complex was the largest in the memory of many Souris residents. This might have struck some as curious, since Larry was not a native son.

But Larry and his wife Bertha had lived in Souris almost all their married lives and much of Larry’s presence in the community was felt on the playing field. For 30 years they had made it their home, brought there by a strong sense that God wanted them to contribute to a small church in a community that might welcome such a witness.

Larry Thiessen, pictured with his grandchildren.

The invitation to teach in Souris came after a mission trip to Nova Scotia and a chance to observe village missions. It struck a nerve with the young couple. The decision to say yes had to be made in three hours, but they knew from the start that this was the place they wanted to be.

Thirty years later, the outpouring of affection and grief when Larry died suddenly at the age of 53, of a heart collapse after an early morning run, was witness to the huge impact he had on Souris and the communities around it.

Larry was an unusually gifted person. He loved sports and was very good at them. He coached generations of the Souris Sabres football team. Members of former and present teams came forward at the funeral to give “Mr. T,” as he was affectionately known, a final cheer. He excelled in music: he played piano, guitar, bass guitar and violin and he sang. During his youth he was keyboardist for a band called the Los Vientos, which established quite a name for itself during his high school years at Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute in Winnipeg. He had been student president during his last year there.

At Souris, Larry’s main teaching area was math, at which he excelled. He was a demanding teacher but encouraging and patient at the same time. A student in his Math 300 course described “his patience to get [her] through, but most importantly, the gentle faith he displayed to all his students.” One young woman wrote, “I often wished he was my dad.” He was also the computer expert for the area, helping set up the computer programs for four schools.

Part of the backbone

Larry and Bertha were stalwart members and part of the backbone of the Faith Community Baptist Church in Souris. It was a small congregation when the young couple arrived in the mid-70s. Over the years, they saw it grow and eventually move into a larger building. Larry was a deacon and Sunday school teacher; he sang, even preached occasionally and was part of a leadership team. They supported the pastors who led the church. At his funeral, current pastor Don Oddie spoke about heroes – Christ our hero, and the hero Larry had become to many who observed his life.

Larry was born to John and Hilda Thiessen when his father was teaching at Eden Christian College, the Mennonite Brethren high school in the Niagara Peninsula. When he was a boy the family moved to Manitoba. His father, also a math teacher and musician, was one of his models. Larry made some very strong Christian commitments as a teenager.

After high school, he went off to Bethany Bible School in Saskatchewan. That laid some important foundations for him and, as importantly, led him to the woman who became his wife, Bertha Kopp. She saw him as the guy who “gave 100% of himself to everything he did” and herself as “the lucky girl who got him.” They had two sons and two daughters and even though he spent huge amounts of time in community activities, his children describe him as the dad who was their hero. “I can’t remember a time when he didn’t put his kids first,” says Kathryn, the eldest daughter.

All of the children followed him to Bible school (three to Bethany, one to Briercrest). Kevin and his wife Christy are now youth pastors in a church in Dublin, Ireland. Carla and her husband Alex Suderman are in seminary studies. Bryan, an outstanding athlete, finished two years at Bible school last winter. Kathryn, a teacher, is married to Andrew Baerg and living near Saskatoon.

Larry combined qualities seldom found in one person. He could be very friendly, patient and caring and yet he also could be intensely competitive and stubborn. Don Oddie spoke about golfing with Larry and being thoroughly dressed down by him on one occasion because of the time it took him to line up his shot and swing. The pastor was offended and hurt. But the following Sunday, Larry mended the relationship and many more golf games followed.

Living with focus

From his youth, virtually everything he did became a game and a competitive one at that. This trait of living life intensely stayed with him until the end. He had a “passion for his church and community,” says daughter Carla. He made sure that every person in the church would be prayed for every day. In his own journal, he recorded his prayer requests and how God answered, including requests about the games he was coaching. Thanks followed for wins, but after losses too.

At his funeral, fellow football coach Jim Turner, who was influenced to become a Christian through Larry, described both the prayer that preceded every game and the advice as the game progressed: “Jim, it really doesn’t help our situation if you yell at the refs that way.” He called Larry his “spiritual and marriage advisor, building helper, coaching partner and – most of all – friend.”

Larry’s death, wrote Darci Semeschuk for the Souris Plain Dealer, “knocked the community to its knees.” Jean Dornian expressed the loss in some lines she entitled “The Power of Focus.” It began with: “When someone leaves this life in a blaze of glory – there’s a focus.” Larry’s focus, she went on, was following Jesus Christ every day.

The commitment the couple made 30 years ago to contribute to Souris was not always easy. Bertha said she struggled at times with the many hours Larry gave to church commitments and sports. When she struggled with being far from family and part of a small church, she said, “God would confirm over and over again that we were where God wanted us to be.”

In the last two years, after Larry had learned of his heart condition and knew he could die suddenly, both “knew their work in Souris was done and time with [Bertha] had become his priority.”

“I have been overwhelmed when I realized the impact Larry’s life has made,” Bertha says about their lives in Souris. “God had a plan . . . I am so humbled and honoured that God chose me to be Larry’s helpmate in this mission.”

Longtime editor/writer Harold Jantz is a member of River East MB Church, Winnipeg.