Festschrift honours Katie Funk Wiebe
On Apr. 24, the Mennonite Brethren Historical Commission, Tabor College, and the Center for MB Studies (CMBS) in Hillsboro, Kan., sponsored a launch for a book celebrating a Mennonite writer with 2,000-plus published articles and books to her name: The Voice of a Writer: Honoring the Life of Katie Funk Wiebe. “To have my writing recognized may not mean all my ideas are accepted, but it helps to know I and other women are not now trespassers,” Katie told the more than 100 people who attended the launch. The book contains essays on Funk Wiebe’s contribution to the life of the church, a sampling of Funk Wiebe’s writing, and 98 pages of bibliographic information on the prolific author. In addition to a 30-year run as columnist for the Christian Leader and a career as an English professor at Tabor College, Funk Wiebe has authored several memoirs, including her latest, You Never Gave Me a Name: One Mennonite Woman’s Story. “Katie has had a huge impact not only on Mennonite Brethren, but also on the Mennonite world,” says co-editor and director of the Canadian CMBS, Doug Heidebrecht. Pictured are the event organizing committee (l-r): contributor Peggy Goertzen, co-editor Doug Heidebrecht, Katie Funk Wiebe, contributor Don Isaac, and co-editor Valerie G. Rempel.
