Obituary of Joseph Balzer

Joseph P. Balzer passed away peacefully Friday, August 17, 2007. Joe was born on September 20, 1937, one of 13 children, on a farm near Dalmeny, Saskatchewan. At the age of 18, Joe committed his life to God and accepted Jesus as his Saviour. He met Nettie Friesen of Osler when she played piano for the quartet he sang in, and they were married in 1960. They had seven children. Joe and Nettie resided in Saskatoon for the first few years, then moved to Swift Current, and later Medicine Hat. Joe was always involved in the church with music and teaching. Music was his soul and he always had a song in his mind. He was filled with life and enthusiasm, and had lots of restless energy. He was often overwhelmed by the beauty of God's creation and some of his favourite memories were of going mountain climbing with the young people of Swift Current Alliance Church. In 2005 Joe and Nettie moved to Shellbrook to be closer to some of their family. They bought some property and developed an 81 year old house into a home of their own design. Joe children and grandchildren were the pride of his life and he poured many hours into working on each of their houses, doing renovations to help them have the homes they wanted. His positive attitude and energy moved him into the position of building a house for his daughter in Shellbrook, but that project was left uncompleted when he unexpectedly left us to enter a building not made with hands, permanent in Heaven. Joe is lovingly remembered and missed by his wife of 46 years, Nettie (nee Friesen), children Verdeen (Darrell) Bueckert, Karen Mierau, Nolan (Kathryn) Balzer, Carmen Balzer (Dean Knutson) and Noreen (Darrell) Smith; grandchildren Alyssa and Nathan Bueckert, Robyn Hiebert, Zoe Mierau-Hiebert, Zachary Balzer, Layne, Sadie and Coltrane Smith, Darryl and Amanda Knutson; great granddaughter Livya Kobialko; brothers and sisters Helen Zacharias, Abe (Elsie) Balzer, Annie Schmidt, Sara Friesen, Ike (Elsie) Balzer, Rose (Dave) Guenther, Dora (John) Wiebe, Eldena (John) Duch; brothers-in law and sisters-in-law, numerous nieces and nephews and the friends he made wherever he went. Joe was predeceased by his twin daughters Cheryl and Charmaine, parents Peter and Elizabeth Balzer, brother Henry Balzer and sisters Mary Thiessen, Nettie Penner and Melinda Nikorak. The funeral was held on Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 2:00 p.m. at the Shellbrook Pentecostal Church, Shellbrook, Saskatchewan.