Mary Zwiers passed away quietly in her sleep early in the morning in her hospital bed. Having run the race she arrived in heaven victorious! She will be greatly missed by her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, friends, her Monday morning fellowship group, Chris Kleinsasser and Carla Kleinsasser.Mary is survived by her sons, Samuel (Netty), John (Yvonne), daughters, Grace Blackburn (Bill), Diane Kingma (Lance), her grandchildren; Eric, Mark (Shantel), Renee (Andrew), Glenn (Cassandra), Jessica, Stephanie (Nathan), Sarah (Scott), Isaac, David (Kelly), Rob (Shaila), Tara (Steve), Rheanne (Ian), Corrine, Dayna, Robyn, as well as 21 great grandchildren…Jaydon, Jordyn,new baby (January) Slade, Ronin, Noah, Kylah, Asher, Berkley, Clay, Cade, new baby (February), Hayden, Cruz, Jase, Claire, Mia, Nixon, Ben, Colton, and Madisyn; her adopted family members, Christie(Christopher), Carla Kleinsasser, Chris Kleinsasser, Lucy Gacheru and her children, Joe and Jane Gacheru and their children. Mom is survived by her younger sister Teeny, in the Netherlands, she is predeceased by her firstborn son, her husband, six brothers and two sisters.

Mary was born on July 3, 1931 in Heerlen in the Netherlands.  When she was 16 she met the love of her life, Herman. After completing her education, Mom worked for clients cleaning their houses. At 21 her and Dad were married and soon after boarded a ship and came to Canada.

The first six months they lived in Canada with an aunt and uncle,Tante Jo and Ome Roel. Both mom and dad got a job upholstering in a furniture factory and soon after were able to get an apartment of their own. In 1953 they were pregnant with their first child… May 1954 they experienced the devastating loss of baby John at birth.

Mom and Dad continued on with the strength and comfort God gave them and through the support of family and friends.

In the following eight years, Mom and Dad were blessed with four healthy children. During this time they were members of the Transcona Christian Reformed Church where they started all of us on a journey of faith.

Mom was quite active in the church. She was involved in teaching Sunday school and catechism and in the summer enjoyed being involved in Bible Camp. She loved singing in the choir. A highlight was singing in the Billy Graham choir.

She loved to laugh. If she wasn’t being Santa at a family gathering, or being involved in silly skits at someone’s gathering at the church, she would be out bowling every week with her bowling team.

In the later years after dad‘s retirement, they would make their annual journey to Hazelton BC where their daughter Grace and her husband Bill were building a house. Mom loved these times out in the country with her children and grandchildren. She loved the beauty as she travelled, helping to build the house, sitting by the fire on summer nights, sleeping in the cabin, meeting new friends and the fellowship of the church.

Mom loved and cherished every one of us! All of us knew this. Her legacy to us is the love and faith in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Mom was cared for right to the end of this life with love and tenderness by her children and dear caregivers Carla and Chris! Faithful to the end Mom walked into glory!

Thank you to all who showed their love and visited mom at home and/or in the hospital. The love, the hymns you sang, the word of God you read brought her incredible joy, strength, and courage to finish the race!

Hebrews 12:1-You made it home!! We will carry on

A celebration of life will be held on Thursday, August 28, 2025 at 12:30 p.m. at Covenant Christian Reformed Church, 653 Knowles Avenue, Winnipeg. The livestream link can be found at covenantcrc.ca