Not meaning to pick on Marvin Janzen, but I do have a few stories about him. Early in our marriage (1984) or so, Cathy and I went out to Vancouver to visit our friends Ron and Karen Nickel. It was around Christmas time and we were visiting a mall in Abbotsford. We came across a choral group singing Christmas Carols. Lo and behold there was Marvin Janzen. Marvin had been one of our teachers in high school. At the beginning of each school year, he would memorize the year and date of birth of every student in the school. This was when the school numbered close to three hundred! There he was, standing in the choir singing his heart out. We stood and waited until they were done singing. By this point, he had spotted us and came down out of the choir to where we were standing. Pointing his finger at Cathy he said "April 28th, 1961" and then pointing at me, said, "March 26th, 1961" turning around, he walked away! YIKES - that was at least 5 years after we had been in school at PHS. The man had an unbelievable memory!
www.prairieboy.com
© 2010 Stephen J. Rendall - All rights reserved.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
MEMORY LIKE AN ELEPHANT
Not meaning to pick on Marvin Janzen, but I do have a few stories about him. Early in our marriage (1984) or so, Cathy and I went out to Vancouver to visit our friends Ron and Karen Nickel. It was around Christmas time and we were visiting a mall in Abbotsford. We came across a choral group singing Christmas Carols. Lo and behold there was Marvin Janzen. Marvin had been one of our teachers in high school. At the beginning of each school year, he would memorize the year and date of birth of every student in the school. This was when the school numbered close to three hundred! There he was, standing in the choir singing his heart out. We stood and waited until they were done singing. By this point, he had spotted us and came down out of the choir to where we were standing. Pointing his finger at Cathy he said "April 28th, 1961" and then pointing at me, said, "March 26th, 1961" turning around, he walked away! YIKES - that was at least 5 years after we had been in school at PHS. The man had an unbelievable memory!
www.prairieboy.com
© 2010 Stephen J. Rendall - All rights reserved.
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Is he the one who used to jump on our desks and shout out our birthdays and middle names?
ReplyDeleteThat would be he
ReplyDeleteOddly, I don't remember the birthday thing. I loved Mr. Janzen for a teacher. He used to put quotes from literature up on the board, a different one each day, like Robert Browning's "All's right with the world." He and his wife and their three boys (all started with MAR - Mark, Marlon and Marshall?) had me over on a number of occasions.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.dignitymemorial.com/en-ca/obituaries/abbotsford-bc/marvin-janzen-7775842
ReplyDelete