Supporting Grebel programs and capital campaigns has always been a priority for Grebel alumna Anita (Lehn) Tiessen (BA 1981) (second from right in photo) and her late husband Bob Tiessen (BMath 1974). While Bob was an actuary and loved numbers and spreadsheets, one of his favourite hobbies was history. He loved to expand his knowledge of world events and had an interest and respect for Mennonite history, particularly his own family’s history. One of Bob’s retirement projects was to sort through all the photos and documents left to him when his parents passed away. Some of these artifacts were donated to the Archives housed at Grebel, and have resulted in the Franz and Anna Tiessen fonds.
Bob passed away in 2022 at the age of 71. In February 2023 Anita established the “Robert J Tiessen Archival Community Education Endowment Fund” in honour of Bob’s passion for Mennonite history.
The Mennonite Archives of Ontario, located at Grebel, will use earnings from this fund to support community presentations, digitization projects, and the creation of archival exhibits.
“Community education is where archives come alive,” said Archivist-Librarian Laureen Harder-Gissing. “We provide it in many ways—from in-person talks to uploading digitized content that could be seen anywhere. I’m excited that this gift will help us continue connecting people to the past.”
“We rely on donations from the community to operate the Mennonite Archives of Ontario, because they are not publicly funded,” explained President Marcus Shantz. “This generous gift will reliably contribute more than $10,000 each year to help us run the Archives, which are a vital part of Grebel’s service to the Mennonite community.”
Anita feels that making a donation to Grebel in Bob’s memory honours both Bob and the place that Grebel had in his life. “Setting up an endowment to support the Grebel Archives will ensure that historical artifacts, and in particular Mennonite artifacts, will be preserved and live on to be available to teach future generations and scholars about this history,” she said. “I know that Grebel is well equipped to manage this endowment and to ensure that the earnings from it will be used for the purpose intended, as long as the Archives and Grebel will continue.”
