John Clement Wiebe, 95, of Trinidad, Calif., died Aug. 22, 2025. He was born Aug. 17, 1930, in Andhra Pradesh, India, to Mennonite Brethren missionary parents, John and Viola Wiebe, and was a grandson of missionary D.F. Bergthold. 

His first language was Telugu, his second German. At age 6 in British boarding school in Ooty, he was disciplined for speaking anything but English. He was then transferred to American School in Kodaikanal, South India. 

After World War II, he finished high school in Mountain Lake, Minn., and then graduated from Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kan., where he met and married Carol Hiebert, his lifelong love and colleague. They moved to California, where he became a master teacher in Northern California schools and spent a year in the Sinkyone Wilderness with his family. 

He returned to India to teach at Kodai International School, where he was instrumental in alerting the school and community to the perils of ignoring and exploiting the environment in that pristine spot. Later, he took a position at the International School in Saudi Arabia. He was then recruited to be principal of the International School in Kampala, Uganda, during the troubled times following the dictatorship of Idi Amin. 

He and Carol retired in Trinidad, finding a perfect spot in the redwoods where he became deeply involved with environmental issues, particularly the old-growth redwoods. There he honed his skill as a sculptor, converting discarded driftwood and burls into wonderful expressions of art. One, Holodomor, which commemorates the genocide of Ukrainians instigated by Joseph Stalin in the 1930s, is at Tabor College. Another, Sempervirens, which draws attention to the coastal redwoods, is at Fresno Pacific University.

Almost until the day he died, he continued to demonstrate and advocate for the dis­ad­vantaged and the environment, attending rallies and writing letters to newspapers in California and to Anabaptist World. 

He is survived by sons Wendell and Rolland; daughter Evelyn; seven grandchildren; sisters Irene and Marilyn and brothers Paul and David. He was preceded in death by his wife; daughter Rebecca and sisters Esther and Ruth.