Margaret (Sawatzky) Ewert, 98, died June 1, 2026. She was born Dec. 12, 1927, in Winnipeg, Man., to John and Margaret (Klassen) Sawatzky, recent immigrants from Ukraine.
The family eventually settled in Vancouver, B.C., where she attended Mennonite Collegiate Institute. She returned for Normal School, taught elementary school, got a bachelor of arts degree from the University of British Columbia and a master’s degree in library science from the University of Washington. She became librarian and English instructor at Canadian Mennonite Bible College.
In 1964, she married Milton Ewert, a widower with four children, in Drake, Sask. She became a farm wife and mother to Ted, Wallace, Rachel and Christine Jill. They were married 33 years until Milton’s death.
Margaret was active in churches in Vancouver and Winnipeg and for the British Columbia Mennonite Conference. She served as president of Canadian Women in Mission and secretary of the Commission on Overseas Mission. She and Milton often attended meetings together and, to his chagrin, he found himself called “Mr. Margaret Ewert”! He was very proud of her. Even in her 70s, Margaret served as chair of North Star Mennonite in Drake. She led a reading program and worked on library projects at CMBC, Ontario and Weierhof, Germany.
In addition to her work for the church at the local, national and international levels, she was a passionate organizer for her family. She researched her parents’ genealogies and for 50 years managed a “cousin letter” where she circulated Christmas letters written by descendants of her grandfather Klassen. She co-published From Kaump to Canada, to which each Klassen family contributed two pages of history and pictures.
She was predeceased by her parents, husband, sister Kathy and stepchildren Wallace and Christine Jill. Despite severe memory challenges the last years, hers was a full and meaningful life.
