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A SELECTED "NORTHERN LIGHTS"
MAGAZINE ARTICLE
(from Issue #489)
Charter Missionary Anne Heal with
the Lord
 One
of NCEM's founding members, Anne Heal, passed away on July 14th at the
age of 88 in Prince Albert (SK).
Anna (Anne) Koop was born and raised on a farm in southern Manitoba,
leaving school after sixth grade to help support the family. In her early
twenties, she and her cousin organized a Sunday school in her home church --
Anne's class had 12 students, who she called her "12 disciples."
Anne attended Winnipeg Bible Institute (now Providence College),
graduating in 1945. In the school yearbook she wrote: "I thank God for a
Christian home and praying parents ... [At age 16] during a sing-song in
our home, the Lord spoke to my heart. That night, when alone in my room, I
saw myself a guilty sinner standing before a holy God, with nothing to
plead. Trembling with fear I sank down on my knees and cried for mercy.
God in His great love revealed to me that Christ had atoned for my sins on
Calvary's cross. All I had to do was to believe on His finished work.
Oh, the peace that entered my heart!"
Following graduation from WBI, Anne felt God calling her to full-time
missionary work with the Native people of northern Canada. She learned of
a new mission that was starting a work in northern Saskatchewan and joined
NCEM as a charter member in 1946.
In the Mission's 25th Anniversary book, Journey to a Lonely Land,
cofounder Stan Collie wrote, "Here we were going to be like the big
foreign missionary societies and screen all our applicants ... and this
little slip of a Mennonite girl came barging in before we even had our red
tape set up. She never did fill out an application or get accepted. We
just sent her to Buffalo Narrows and put her to work!"
A couple years later Anne was stationed at Molanosa (SK) with two other
missionary ladies. They kept needy children in their home, which turned
out to be the first step toward the formation of the Montreal Lake
Children's Home.
Anne met Ed Heal at a Mission conference and they were married in
Molanosa in 1952. The newlyweds flew back to Stony Rapids (Ed's station)
in a Canso Aircraft with freight boxes for seats. They spent their
honeymoon in a one-room shack, which Anne soon transformed into their
first home. The next spring, as they excitedly awaited the arrival of
their first child, their excitement turned to grief as their baby daughter
passed away. Although the doctor did not give the Heals much hope for more
children, God overruled and four children were born to them: Albert,
Georgina, Peter and Grace.
In 1964 they moved to Buffalo Narrows (SK) where Ed served as a
missionary pastor and Anne was involved in outreach to children and
families. The Heals remained in service there for many years, and were
living there in 1999 when Ed passed away.
(adapted from the Eulogy for Anna Heal, written by her children)
Anne Heal: Missionary to the End
by Grace Pope
After Dad passed away four and-a-half years ago, Mom spent two years
with family members. Then, just over two years ago, due to her failing
health, she moved to Mont St. Joseph Home in Prince Albert.
Mom was only there a few weeks when she realized that the Lord still
had a ministry for her. Mom talked constantly with those she met at the
Home about wanting to go to heaven. One day, as they were sitting at a
dining room table, she made some comment about heaven.
One of the ladies at her table asked her, "How come you are so sure
that you're going to heaven?" Mom started to explain to her that she
had trusted Jesus to forgive her sins and make her ready for heaven, when
she suddenly realized that the whole dining room was quiet and everyone
was listening to her!
This opened her eyes to see that many of the residents and staff did
not know the Lord and had no assurance of salvation. Mom made up her mind
that she was going to tell everyone who came across her path how they
could know for sure that they were going to heaven. And she did!
She got involved in a weekly Bible study in the Home and, although she
did not lead the study, she answered many questions about the Bible and
explained many spiritual concepts to those in attendance.
When her health got so bad that she could no longer ride to church with
us, she got the staff to take her to the lounge to watch Tribal Trails (NCEM's
Native Gospel program) on Sunday mornings. Pretty soon most of the people
on her floor were watching it too. She taught the people at her table how
to pray out loud, and soon their table became known as the "the table
where they talk about God."
Even when Mom was annoyed with people, she turned those situations into
opportunities to witness. A lady who was assigned to her dining room table
kept bragging that she was in her 90s, while the others at the table were
only in their 80s. Whenever one of the others wasn't feeling well, this
lady would tell them that she should be the one not feeling well, not
them. This kept on for so long that everyone was getting tired of her
comments.
One day it was Mom's turn to not be feeling well, and this lady made
the same comment to her. Mom replied, "Well, if you are so much older
than the rest of us, you probably will be the one to die first. So are you
ready to meet the Lord?"
The lady was very quiet, and that was the last of her sarcastic
comments. She later confided to Mom that she had no hope of eternal
salvation, and Mom had a real burden for her salvation. Lately she has
been reading her Bible regularly.
Following one of her congestive heart failure attacks in May, Mom was
being helped to the washroom by a nurse and orderly. While they were
holding her up on the toilet, one of them made a comment to Mom about her
not sitting there too long in case she might pass out.
Mom mistakenly thought he had said "pass on." She shook her finger
at him and said, in no uncertain terms, "Now you listen to me, young
man! If I pass on while I'm sitting here, I'm going straight to heaven
because Jesus died for my sins. It's no further to heaven from here than
it is from my bed!" We laughed about that situation many times
afterward!
Mom enjoyed our family get-together in the park on Sunday, July 11th.
Almost all of her children and grandchildren were there. The following
Tuesday I took our two children to visit Mom, spending the afternoon
together, and taking her for a wheelchair ride outside. As we were coming
back to the Home, Mom met quite a few of the residents waiting outside to
take a bus to see a Passion Play being performed in the area.
Mom visited with them, and I asked her if she wanted to go along with
them, but she said that she wasn't feeling well and wanted to go back to
her room. She said that she would spend her evening praying for all these
people as they watched the life of Christ.
At 5:30 the next morning Mom had severe chest pains and the family was
called to her bedside. My brother Peter and his wife, Debbie, were there
within 15 minutes, but Mom had already gone to be with the Lord.
The residents and staff who knew her well were heartbroken. Many of
them gathered in her room for a prayer service and wept as they shared how
Mom had taught them about the Lord and the Bible, helped them learn to
pray, and know for sure that they could go to heaven. The lady who had
asked the question (in the dining room) about how you can know for sure
you are going to heaven, shared with my sister afterwards that she was no
longer afraid to die, because Mom had shared about Jesus with her.
Mom's desire was to have her funeral service in the Home's chapel
as a last opportunity to witness to the people there. NCEMers Gilbert
Bekkatla and Tim Gradin did a beautiful job of sharing of Mom's hope in
the Lord with the 100-plus people there. That same evening we met with Mom's
friends in the Friendship Centre in Buffalo Narrows, and another service
was held the following afternoon with missionaries Ron Ward and Gary
Winger leading.
Mom's earthly body was laid to rest beside Dad's on July 18th in
Buffalo Narrows. She was truly a missionary right to the end.
Grace and her husband, Walter, serve with NCEM in Prince Albert.
Albert and Barb Heal also serve with the Mission, in Ft. Nelson, BC.
Georgina (who served with NCEM for a period of time) lives with her
husband, Bob Hill, on a farm near Shellbrook (SK). Peter and Debbie Heal
live in PA where he is employed by the provincial government.
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