Deaconess Florence Weicker

1907 - 1977  (69 years)

• Name	Florence Weicker
  Prefix	Deaconess
  Born	2 Oct 1907  [1, 2]
  Gender	Female
  Employer	Merchants Rubber Co., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  Residence	1969	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [3]
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-225705
  Died	16 Jun 1977	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1, 2]
  Buried	Saint Peter's Lutheran Cemetery, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1, 2]
  Person ID	I225705	Generations
  Last Modified	7 Nov 2024

  
  

  Father	William Weicker,   b. 7 May 1878, East Zorra Twp., Oxford Co., Ontario, Canada ,   d. 29 Nov 1940, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 62 years)
  Mother	Emma E. Jungblut,   b. 2 Aug 1878, East Zorra Twp., Oxford Co., Ontario, Canada ,   d. 15 Jun 1969, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 90 years)
  Married	16 Oct 1906	Sebastopol, South Easthope Twp., Perth Co., Ontario   [4]
  Family ID	F231512	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  SISTER FLORENCE WEICKER 1st Lutheran Deaconess dies at 69 Sister Florence Weicker, deaconess at St. Matthew's Lutheran Church in Kitchener for 28 years, died of cancer today at Freeport Hospital, Kitchener. She was 69. When she retired on Nov. 9, 1975 it was said that she had comforted the bereaved, been a companion to the elderly, a guide to New Canadians and a mother confessor to nearly every member of the congregation which she joined as a 13-year old. She was the first Lutheran deaconess in Canada. There are about six women serving in Canadian churches. After public school here, she attended business college and worked as a stenographer for six years. It was during this period that her desire to become a deaconess intensified and as a first step she entered the Stratford Hospital school of nursing, graduating in 1932. It was during the Depression and in Kitchener, the economic nightmare was haunting her family which was surviving on a bakery business operated from the back of bicycles. She returned from Stratford to work at the Freeport Hospital for 1 ½ years and as an industrial nurse at Merchant's Rubber (now Uniroyal) for eight years. In 1944, she started on the path that would make her a deaconess. She enrolled at Waterloo College for one year and in 1945 worked among children at the Lutheran Settlement House in Philadelphia. She then began two years of intensive training at the Lutheran Deaconess House and School in Baltimore, Md. She returned to her home congregation of St. Matthew's in 1947 and for the next 10 years, she worked with refugees from Europe. She helped to start an interim house used by many refugees as a stepping stone into the community. But she still found time to make hospital visits, work with youth groups, assist in Sunday school and to visit shut-ins. Toward the end of her career, Sister Florence was averaging 150 to 225 visits a month to nursing home patients and shut-ins in the Twin Cities, Bridgeport, Tavistock, Preston and Maryhill. Each visit lasted anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. One of her favourite projects was called Loaves and Fishes, providing hot meals three times a week for senior citizens and pensioners in the K-W area at a nominal cost. She was a founding member of the Community Workers Council and was also a past chairman of the K-W Council of Churches, which named her layman of the year in 1972. Sister Florence was a past member president of the K-W Quota Club, a member of the board of St. Monica House, a charter member of the Sunnyside Auxiliary, and the St. Leonard's Society. Surviving are one brother and one sister. She was predeceased by three brothers. The service will be conducted at St. Matthew's Lutheran Church at 1 p.m. Saturday. The Kitchener-Waterloo Record 17 Jun 1977

  
  

• Sources

  [S74] News - ON, Waterloo, Kitchener - Kitchener-Waterloo Record (1948-1994), Obituary of Florence Weicker - 17 Jun 1977. [S3231] Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/82379884. [S74] News - ON, Waterloo, Kitchener - Kitchener-Waterloo Record (1948-1994), Obituary of Emma Weicker - 27 Jun 1968. [S3231] Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/82343333.

  
  

• Event Map

  Employer - - Merchants Rubber Co., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Residence - 1969 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Died - 16 Jun 1977 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Buried - - Saint Peter's Lutheran Cemetery, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  = Link to Google Earth