Robert (Rob) Eric Enns
September 3rd, 1952 - October 10th, 2022.
Rob had just recently turned 70 when he passed away earlier this week.
He received this award from MCC for 12 years of service for which he was very proud and he loves the Saskatchewan Roughriders football team! Hence this picture seemed the most appropriate to share here.
Robert Eric Enns was born September 3rd, 1952, in Nipawin, Saskatchewan and grew up on his family’s farm in Carrot River, Saskatchewan. He moved away from farm life after graduating in Grade 12 from Rosthern Junior College, then Canadian Mennonite Bible College in Winnipeg with a Bachelor of Theology.
In May 1973, at the age of 20, he joined MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) to begin a three-year term of service work in International Development focusing on agriculture work. His country assignment was Bangladesh. His term began with three months of language study in rural Bangladesh, in Barisal which is where he met me, his wife, Helen. I was beginning a shorter term of service (18 months) with a different mission organisation working as a physiotherapist with special needs children in Dhaka, Bangladesh. I was also 20 years old and came there from Australia. I only took three weeks of Bengali language study but fortunately our times overlapped in Barisal in July 1973.
A few months later, a romance began between us but as we lived several hours apart, our meetings were few and far between. There were about 10 “dates” between February and November 1974 at which time I left to return to Australia.
No permanent promises were made but just a commitment to write, which we did for the next year. Near the end of 1975, we planned for me to return to Bangladesh for us to have a holiday together in Darjeeling (India) and then we could maybe decide whether we had a future together. However, instead, Rob had a severe motorcycle accident on Christmas Eve 1975 where his head collided with a truck, and he nearly died. Instead of a romantic holiday outside of Bangladesh, we spent that time in the British hospital in Chandraghona with him recovering from many broken bones, including broken jaw, leg and spine and a severe concussion as well. We thought that would be the hardest thing we would ever have to deal with. Fortunately, he didn’t forget me. We got engaged soon after that.
Rob was committed to a life of service to others and to living a simple lifestyle in keeping with his Mennonite upbringing and faith. Having a wife with her family in another country didn’t easily fit into that mould.
However, after 46 years of marriage, I can say that he adapted to that, and we have been able to maintain good successful relationships with our families in both Canada and Australia with lots of chances to visit. We’ve had an amazing life together and been very blessed. God is good and God is faithful.
When we came to Canada after our marriage in Adelaide, (Sth. Australia) June 19th, 1976, Rob later returned to studies and graduated with a Master’s degree in Economics from U of M in Winnipeg. With our family now started, we returned to Bangladesh in 1980 mostly working with MCC. We lived there for a total of another 10 years with some gaps in between. Chris was two years old when we moved there, Matt was born in Bangladesh in 1980 and we adopted Shawnti in 1984 to complete our international family with three children.
After 1988, we moved back to Canada and Rob’s work shifted to doing more international consulting around the world, often through MEDA (Mennonite Economic Development Associates) or CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) which is now called Global Affairs Canada. He was involved in helping evaluate and monitor many projects of various organisations which received funding generally from the Canadian government and some other funders as well.
He was blessed to be able to travel the world for this work and visited many countries such as India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Sudan, Haiti, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya and others too.
His last job which he began in February 2021 was to be in his beloved Bangladesh working as the Country Representative for MCC. This was still during COVID lockdowns here and there and so he began this work from our home in Canada. Those Zoom meetings with staff in Bangladesh were often early in the morning or late at night due to the 12 hours’ time difference. He worked in both English and Bengali as he is fluent in each. He was so excited to be preparing to fly to Dhaka in August 2021 and then that got delayed to Oct due to COVID restrictions ramping up again but then came this difficult news.
Rob was diagnosed with CMML-1 (Chronic Monocytic Myeloid Leukemia) on September 14th, 2021. This is a rare form of Leukemia with just 4 per 1 million people being affected. He received some special new chemo treatment pills which helped move him into remission and he was able to continue his MCC role until Dec 2021. We eventually decided for him to have a total STC (stem cell transplant) with cells donated by his brother Gerald who was a 10/10 match and lives right here in Calgary. It was a difficult process with lots of harsh chemo that killed off his whole immune system prior to the transplant. He got through that and bounced back with relatively few issues to deal with. In July, everything seemed to be going quite well and we were able to travel back to Carrot River in early August to attend his cousin Art’s funeral and meet with his relatives again and visit the farm. It was a very special time for him, and he felt quite good.
In mid-August, the cancer returned and with a vengeance it quickly progressed to AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia) which was diagnosed on Sept 14th this year, just one year after the initial diagnosis. He died after a brief time in hospital and then hospice care. During that time, he was blessed by many family members and friends who came to visit. Even though he was tired from everything he had gone through, he always maintained a great attitude and his wonderful smile. In the end, it was his decision to halt active treatment when he saw no improvement was coming and no hope of a cure. We are thankful that he is in Heaven now and he has a new upgraded body and an amazing new life to experience with his Lord Jesus.
Left to miss him and mourn his passing are myself, Helen and our children Chris (and Heather) from Calgary (with their sons Ryan and Jeremy), Matt (and Devin) in Kelowna (with their sons Josh and Jake) and Shawnti in Calgary also.
Rob was the eldest of seven children. His Dad, Peter, died a few years ago and his Mom, Irmgard Enns still lives here in Calgary along with Brian (and Sylvia) and Gerald (and Lorraine). His other siblings are Fred (and Anne) of Knowlton, Quebec, Laura Anne Ellen of Nanaimo, BC, Bruce (and Lisa) in Saskatoon and Vicki (and Tim) in Winnipeg. His Australian in-laws are John (and Joy) Atwell in Melbourne and Glenys (and Colin) Beaton in Adelaide. There are many nieces and nephews in both Canada and Australia who also will miss Rob’s presence and participation in their lives.
Rob has many friends around the world who have been watching this journey unfold this past year as the cancer progressed.
We thank everyone for your love and care and prayers for Rob and us and we can tell you that you have helped to sustain us by these and other generous gifts of time, food, leaf raking etc. and we have peace in the midst of this very hard time and we are thankful for that.
1. We hope you can join us in-person or on YouTube for his Celebration of Life service on Sunday, October 23, 2022 at 4 pm at Dalhousie Church (5511 Baroc Road NW, Calgary). For those who are not able to attend, you may watch via LiveStream here
LiveStream Link Here.
2. The service will be followed by a buffet dinner and open mic sharing time, which will also be accessible via ZOOM. This will start at 6 p.m. Join Zoom Meeting using this link
Zoom Meeting Link here.
Meeting ID: 814 3102 7912. Passcode: 340725
We want to invite all who wish to join us for the celebration buffet dinner with open mic in person or via ZOOM following the service, with some of Rob’s favourite foods from Bangladesh and Canada. Everyone is welcome.
Wear green if you wish (or dare) to celebrate (as he would have) the Saskatchewan Rough Riders team!!
I will create an Eventbrite event so you can register and say how many people will join for the meal.
If you want a zoom link or to contact me for anything, here is my contact info:
helenenns@gmail.com or 403 613 8358. HELEN ENN