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About The Book

DAD, GOD, AND ME
Remembering a Mennonite Pastor and His Wayward Son

In a compelling, honest, and transparent account, Ralph Friesen tells the story of his father, Reverend Peter D. Friesen of Steinbach, Manitoba. He also tells his own story, of the search for his father and a crisis of faith. Growing up in a fundamentalist Mennonite community as the son of a minister, Ralph resisted the pressure to be “saved” and struggled to find a spiritual alternative. His father suffered a debilitating stroke when Ralph was a young teenager, but it is only now, in his seventies, that Ralph has delved into the meaning of that event. Dad, God, and Me is Ralph’s quest to discover and convey the man his father was—with all of his strengths, faults, aspirations, and regrets. Drawing on journal entries, old photographs, and personal memories, this memoir welcomes readers into a particular time, place, and family. An engaging read for anyone who appreciates that “real life” can be challenging, painful, and beautiful all at the same time.​

Where To Purchase 

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eBooks
Paperback & Hardcover

Paperback copies available directly from the author. Simple send me a message.

This new book, published by the Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society, will be launched at the Mennonite Heritage Village Museum in Steinbach on Monday, October 7, 2024 at 7 p.m.

Also at McNally Robinson Books, Grant Park Shopping Centre, Winnipeg, on Wednesday, October 9, 2024 at 7 p.m.



Abraham S. Friesen, Steinbach Pioneer
​published 2004, with Hilton Friesen

Between Earth & Sky, published by the Heritage Committee of the City of Steinbach, 2009. Winner of Margaret McWilliams award for best local history that year
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About The Author

With degrees in English Literature and in Marriage and Family Therapy, Ralph Friesen is mindful of the transformative power of language and faith. Dad, God, and Me, his third book, deals partly with trauma—something he’s familiar with from personal experience and his career as a therapist. Now he has written a fourth book, once again about his home town: "Prosperity Ever--Depression Never": Steinbach in the 1930s. This new book is an attempt to bring into present the world in which his parents and older siblings, and so many others, moved and breathed.
In 2009, Ralph authored Between Earth & Sky: Steinbach, the First 50 Years, and in 2010, he received the Margaret McWilliams Award for excellence in the study and interpretation of the history of Manitoba, in the category of Local History. In 2004 he co-authored an inter-generational family history, Abraham S. Friesen, Steinbach Pioneer. Ralph lives in Victoria, British Columbia with his wife, Hannah.

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