Nelson Yantzi

Nelson Yantzi was born in 1928 at the home of his parents, Jacob and Mary (Iutzi) Yantzi. Their farm was located at Lot 29, Concession 15, East Zorra-Tavistock Township. Nelson had six brothers and three sisters. Deitsch was the first language of their family. Nelson attended the S. S. No. 13 public school and graduated from grade 8. From his youth, he mainly farmed and worked in construction before establishing his own floor covering business in 1963 in Tavistock. In 1950, Nelson married Ruth Zehr and they had two daughters and a son. Nelson was a lifelong member of the East Zorra Mennonite Church, where he served as a Sunday school teacher and superintendent, songleader, and in 1969, he was elected as the first elder and lay preacher in the congregation. After three decades in the floor covering business, Nelson retired in 1994. Ruth died in 2009 and in 2013, Nelson moved to the Nithview retirement community in New Hamburg in. Nelson wrote poetry. He died in 2022 at the age of 93. Because of Covid restrictions at the home where he lived, Nelson was recorded on Zoom and this affected the quality of his recording.