A tribute to Gerhard G. Baerg (1874 – 1963)
by the family

"I remember Great Grandfather as Grandfather with the Beard, always well dressed and dignified looking wearing a shirt, tie, and vest under his pin-striped suit, even during the week! He would come out to our farm every summer for a week or two and spent a lot of time out in the yard working with what was left of buildings that had been torn down. He would sort and pile the boards and straighten and sort all the rusty old nails that he had pulled. All of this he did while sitting out in the hot summer sun! I think he might have been The Original Re-cycler!"
— Grace Adrian-Chwartkowski

"I remember Great Grandpa! In my mind's eye I see him sitting on a little stool in the summer sun on the farm in Rabbit Lake, tap-tapping with a hammer, straightening nails that he'd pulled out of some old lumber. He didn't believe in wasting anything. He used to organize the nails in containers in Dad's shed, according to size and type. And I still chuckle when I remember Dad's expressions when he tried to use those old nails and one after another the nail-heads flew off into hinterland because they were, in fact, rusted through."
— Joyce Adrian-Sotski

I have very similar memories of him as well. He lived with us for a time and I also recall him walking around the yard, picking up nails. He would then take them to the shed, straighten them and organize them in small metal tobacco tins. He had a room upstairs in our old house, and here he kept his hard cover German books which often had inscriptions on the inside cover in his beautiful handwriting. I wish I knew what became of them. Some special times with him were the occasions he would sit us on either side of him at the bottom steps of our old house. There he would dole out salted peanuts to us one at a time. What a treat those were.
— Doreen Klassen-Pankewich

Here is the story of Grandpa Baerg which I have compiled from genealogical information, a letter written by his nephew, and personal experiences and reflections.
— Margaret Klassen-Neufeld

Shown below are some of his drawings: