Of Time and Change

Change and decay in all around I see;

O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

Time has delusional qualities. Everything changes with time, but this change is so gradual that it is almost imperceptible. If it were not so gradual, it would be frightening. In childhood it seems to move very slowly, in young adulthood and mid-life it feels like it's not moving at all, and in old age one has the perception that it's flying by. This is especially obvious when we trace the growth of our children over the years. The tiny baby changes drastically within the time span of a year, but we only notice it when we compare the photos taken during the course of that year.

People have very different ways of dealing with time. My father was always ready on time and waited for Mom who always ran out of time. My husband Hardy always wants to make the most of time and ends up being late for everything. I like to be early because I don't want to miss anything! 

Even the change of seasons has become unreliable. This winter it seemed like time was standing still! The winter just wanted to linger, even though it needed to move on and make way for spring. It is still snowing in May and it doesn't feel like spring will be making its appearance anytime soon.

Recently my mother's cousin, Arthur Kroeger, wrote a book about that reliable instrument that has helped us measure and keep track of time for centuries -- the clock, and specifically, the Kroeger clock. My sisters and I invited Uncle Arthur to our book club to tell us about it. Arthur himself seems timeless. He is 90 years old, but very spry and lively, both physically and mentally. He loved being the center of attention for five women, all much younger than he, although we are no spring chickens either!

Part I of the book, Kroeger Clocks, relates the history of the Kroeger clock makers. The Kruegers of Reimerswalde in the Werder region of West Prussia had made clocks since the 1700s. Some members of this clock-making family later moved to Ukraine, where they continued to manufacture them. Over time the Kruegers changed their name to Kroeger and the Werder clocks became the Kroeger clocks. My grandfather, Abram Kroeger, married a Loewen, a farmer's daughter with land of her own, so he left clock making and went into farming. Nearly two hundred years of clock making came to an end in 1929, although the Kroegers continued repairing clocks for some time. Beginning in 1874, Mennonites who left Ukraine for Canada and the U.S. often took their Kroeger clocks along with them.

Part II of Uncle Arthur's book is a treatise on clocks in general, beginning with their early history and going into some detail about the Kroeger clocks and how to recognize them.

Part III, entitled "Amazing Clock Stories," is the longest and for me the most interesting part of the book. One such story, 'The Reimer Clock,' tells how Agatha Reimer and her children were forced to flee Ukraine at the end of October 1943. Their husband and father was arrested by the Soviets in 1938 and disappeared from their lives. They loaded the family's Kroeger clock onto the horse-drawn wagon with other precious possessions. As they moved further into Poland they ended up walking for seventeen days through ice and snow to East Germany. On his back, in a "Rucksack" (backpack), seven-year-old Abram carried the heavy Kroeger clock. That same clock went with the family to Paraguay  in 1947 and then made its way to Canada in 1955. This year, in the week Arthur came to tell us about the Kroeger clocks,  Abram Reimer, the little boy who carried the clock on his back, passed away. Time now stands still for him, and drags on for his widow. The Kroeger clock on her wall continues to tick faithfully.

With the new electronic gadgets now giving us the time at the touch of our fingers, clocks will soon be obsolete and continue to exist only in museums. Another change ... easily accepted by the younger generation but a little more difficult to adopt by seniors who love their clocks!

Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?

Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

[Henry Lyte, 1793-1847]