Orletta Fern Brandt (Heide) Wiebe
Orletta Fern Brandt (Heide) Wiebe Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information (jostfuneralhome.com)
March 25, 1931 - June 8, 2022
Orletta Fern Brandt (Heide) Wiebe went to be with Jesus on June 8, 2022, at the age of 91.
Orletta enjoyed music (never missing a chance to sing 4-part harmony with friends and family), sports (attending and streaming countless football, basketball and volleyball games), reading (bringing books to share with her grandchildren and also reading to challenge herself) traveling to see family (navigating many road trips with her sister, Joyce), gathering with friends, and sharing her faith in God.
Orletta’s life began on March 25, 1931, at Hillsboro, Kansas, born to William P. and Lillian (Bartel) Brandt. After seven days her mother died, leaving her father with two sons, ages two and three and a newborn (Orletta). She was received and nurtured in the home of Henry H. and Linda (Penner) Bartel until her father married Anna Ewert. Orletta’s new mom was loved dearly by all of her instant family. Soon another son, Franklin, joined the family, but lived only six months. Later three sisters, Pearl, Darlene, and Joyce and a brother John joined the family.
Orletta’s education began at Lehigh, Kansas. Because of family moves, she also attended three different rural schools. At 13 years of age she was baptized and joined the Johannestal Mennonite Church. After graduating from Hillsboro High School she attended Tabor College for one year. It was there that Orletta was challenged to serve as a volunteer under MCC. Her two years of service included one year at the office of the National Service Board for Religious Objectors in Washington, D.C.
After her second year at MCC in Akron, PA, she entered nurses training at Bethel College and Bethel Deaconess Hospital, graduating in 1957.
Her first work experience as a nurse was at Beatrice Mennonite Hospital, Beatrice, NE. Several years later she returned to Newton KS to work at Prairie View Mental Health Center. It was there she met and married Marvin Heide, a Mt. Lake, MN native, on September 4, 1960.
After living in Mt. Lake for a year, where she worked in the Mennonite Hospital, they moved to Hillsboro, KS, and were blessed with four children: Jerold, Carolyn, Dennis and Kendall.
During the next 10 years Orletta worked at a clinic and at Salem Hospital in Hillsboro. They lived in Beatrice, NE, from 1972-1974, where Orletta worked in a mental health clinic. In 1973 they moved back to Hillsboro where Marvin became owner and operator of Hillsboro Equipment, Inc.
They were active members of Trinity Mennonite Church, serving as deacons and youth leaders. Orletta was chosen as the first woman deacon in their church, and with God’s grace, was able to minister along with others. She returned to Prairie View, working in the children’s program.
In 1979 Orletta’s husband, Marvin, passed away from cancer. She became a single mother of an 11, 14, 16 and 17 year-old. A year or so later she began working for the Marion County Health Dept., later becoming the director. She proudly saw all four children graduate from Bethel College.
Through a mutual friend, Orletta was introduced to John Wiebe. John lived and worked in Winnipeg, Manitoba as conference minister in the Conference of Mennonites in Manitoba. Following the leading of their hearts (and a sense of God’s leading) and family support, John and Orletta were married on March 19, 1988.
The following 22 years Orletta lived in Winnipeg, where she also was received by three stepchildren, Gerald, Barry and Cindy, and one grandchild, Alex.
There Orletta chose to join the Bethel Mennonite Church, serving in a variety of ways. For a number of years she was in a group that met to pray and contemplate once a week, a very enriching experience which continued to challenge her prayer life.
Orletta was encouraged to enter the pastoral care ministry under the umbrella of the Conference of Mennonites in Manitoba. Following a year of training and classes Orletta served for 10 years in ministering at St. Boniface Hospital.
In 2009, John passed away and Orletta moved back to Kansas, to live at Kidron Bethel Village, joining many friends from her past and gaining many new ones. Living there offered many opportunities to grow spiritually, joining a prayer group and numerous book discussions. Orletta said “Reading, cooking, and traveling were some of my favorite activities. Having been blessed with relatively good health, I daily pray with thankfulness. Great is your faithfulness, God.”
Orletta was preceded in death by her parents William, Lillian (Bartel) and Anna (Ewert) Brandt, two husbands, Marvin Heide and John F. Wiebe, brother Eldon and wife Anny Brandt, sister-in-law Grace (Ewert) Brandt, brothers-in-law Bill Colhoff, John McConnel, sister Darlene and husband Lewis Haney, and brother-in-law Richard Barkman; of the Heide family, Lavina (Heide) and John Wall and Robert Heide.
Wiebe family predeceased are Henry and Louise Wiebe, Hilda and George Ewert, Ann and Dan Hildebrandt, Ed and Nora Heinrichs, Dave Friesen and stepdaughter, Cynthia Hernandez, Winnipeg.
Orletta is survived by her children Jerold and Donna (Funk) Heide, Wichita, KS, Carolyn and Ray (Henderson), Charlotte, NC, Dennis and Lorna (Innes) Heide, Orlando, FL, and Kendall and Carrie (Dalke) Heide, Wichita, KS, nine grandchildren and one great-grandchild, stepsons Gerald Wiebe and Barry Wiebe, four stepgrandsons, and three stepgranddaughters, brothers Raymond and Rosie (Goering), N. Newton, KS, and John and Donita (Chastain) Brandt, Yankton, SD, and sisters Pearl McConnel, Sandpoint, ID and Joyce Barkman, Hillsboro, KS, of the Heide family, Darrel and Susan (Howes) Heide, Highland, CA, Don and Jan (Frank) Heide, Tuscan, AZ, Jerry and Kathy Heide, Colorado Springs, CO, and sister-in-law, Norma Heide, Hutchinson, KS.
Wiebe survivors are Peter and Rheta Mae Wiebe, Glendale, AZ, Mary (Wiebe) Friesen, Winkler, MB, Jake and Linda (Wiebe) Wall, Abbotsford, BC and Len and Phyllis Wiebe, Winnipeg, also many nieces and nephews from both sides of the family.
Celebration of Life Service 3:00 p.m. Friday, June 24, 2022 at Bethel College Mennonite Church in North Newton.
Memorials to Live Forward Capital Campaign at Kidron Bethel Village or Bethel College Mennonite Church in lieu of flowers in care of Jost Funeral Home, P.O. Box 266 Hillsboro, Kansas 67063.
Online condolences at www.jostfuneralhome.com.
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