Origin: This cradle was collected by the donor’s father, Bernhardt (Ben) Heinrich Wiebe Reimer (1904 – 1986).
Donated by: Iris Reimer Nowakowski, daughter of Bernhardt Heinrich Wiebe Reimer

“In 1964, the H.W. Reimer store, which had done business on Main Street since the 1880s was sold. Bernhardt, the youngest of the four siblings was somewhat at a loss as to how to spend his days. He loved to buy and sell so for a time he scoured the Southeast of Manitoba in search of Mennonite antiques. This cradle was one of his findings.”

“My father loved his Mennonite heritage and always spoke of his ancestry in terms of ‘we’. In his retirement years he was an enthusiastic guide at the Mennonite Heritage Village until the Spring of 1986. In deciding what to do with this cradle I felt that it would honour my father most to donate it to this museum. After all, a big part of his heart was here.”