Helen (Schellenberg) Wittenberg was a long-time registered nurse and active community volunteer. She was born August 17, 1928 in Blumenort, Saskatchewan to Peter J. Schellenberg (January 28, 1886, South Russia – November 30, 1966, New Westminster, B.C.) and Agatha (Dyck) Schellenberg (May 22, 1889, Neu Chortitza, Baratov, South Russia – June 18, 1967, Abbotsford, B.C.). Helen was the youngest child in a family of three sons and two daughters. Helen married John Wittenberg, son of Jakob Wittenberg (1878-1956) and Katharina (Wiens) Wittenberg (1891-1979) on August 22,1953 in Abbotsford, B.C. ; they raised two daughters and one son. Helen died April 11, 2015 at the Menno Home in Abbotsford, B.C.
Helen grew up in rural Saskatchewan, where her father Peter Schellenberg made his living as a farmer and blacksmith. From her earliest years, Helen had a passion for healing sick animals and helping ailing neighbors. Her mother Agatha, the midwife for the Swift Current, Saskatchewan municipality, inspired Helen with an ever-ready bag of medical instruments, her engaging stories, and sturdy work ethic. In this setting Helen’s passion for nursing was vigorously nurtured. After completing elementary school in Blumenort, Helen earned her secondary school diploma by completing Saskatchewan Department of Education correspondence courses, allowing her to graduate in the Wymark, Saskatchewan School District.
When the Schellenberg family moved to Abbotsford, British Columbia in 1948, Helen decided to enter the nursing profession. With a gift of $100.00 from her brother Peter to pay for entrance costs, Helen began her studies at St. Paul’s School of Nursing. She graduated with honors in 1951, and earned a special diploma in bedside nursing for emergency and cardiac wards. She chose to continue working at St. Paul’s until 1953, when she relocated to Ontario to pursue further professional training at the Kitchener-Waterloo Hospital.
Helen met her future husband John in Kitchener, ON during this time, and they were married in August 1953 at the South Abbotsford Mennonite Brethren Church. They returned to Ontario where John had contracted to teach at Eden Christian College in Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON. Helen began working in the Hotel Dieu Hospital in St. Catharines, and then as an office nurse. Two years later the Wittenberg family moved to Abbotsford where Helen found employment in the Matsqui, Sumas, & Abbotsford Hospital. To expand their horizons, in 1965 the young family moved to Tabora, Tanzania where John taught English at the Kazina Secondary School and Helen became the "go-to nurse," dealing with all manner of emergencies.
After returning to Abbotsford, Helen resumed employment in the MSA Hospital. In 1973 she joined four nursing friends to pioneer a new Government of B.C .Department of Health initiative – Home Care Nursing. This programme allowed patients to recuperate in their own homes with regular nurse visits, as needed. The Home Care Nursing program was so successful that it was expanded provincially, a source of professional satisfaction for Helen.
After her retirement from the Home Care Program in 1988, Helen was invited by the Menno Place and by the Fraser Valley Health Region to organize a "visiting nurse" practice for the Menno Pavilion. When Helen retired from this program in 1998, she had completed fifty-one years of nursing.
