Nickol “Nick” Rempel, 98, of Buhler, Kansas, passed away Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, at Sunshine Meadows Retirement Community in Buhler.
He was born May 12, 1928, in Foxwarren, Manitoba, Canada, to Johann I. and Aganetha (Loewen) Rempel, the fourth of 12 children and first to be born in Canada after the family immigrated from what is now Ukraine.
They later relocated to a farm in Arnold, British Columbia, where Nick graduated from the Mennonite Educational Institute in Abbotsford, BC. As a teenager, he accepted Christ as his savior and was later baptized at the 43rd Avenue Mennonite Brethren Church in Vancouver, BC. After several years of work in Vancouver, he enrolled at Pacific Bible Institute and then earned a bachelor of divinity from the newly established Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary, Fresno, California. As a student, he worked at Palmer’s Nursery in Fresno, where he developed a lifelong interest in landscape design.
On Aug. 5, 1955, he married Clarice Reimer in Blaine, Washington. Together, they served in church ministry in Shoreline, Washington, and Wasco, California, before moving to Buhler in 1970, where Nick served for many years as pastor of the Buhler Mennonite Brethren Church.
Nick and Clarice welcomed two daughters, Valerie and Denise, and he was especially proud of their own involvement in church ministry.
Following Clarice’s death in 2001, he married Esther “Marlene” Scott Ferguson on April 1, 2003. He felt honored to be embraced by Marlene’s family and to become “Grandpa” to her nine grandchildren.
“Pastor Nick” enjoyed community service through Kiwanis and served on the boards of Reno County Hospice, Sunshine Meadows, Tabor College, Mennonite Mutual Aid (now Everance), as well as various MB denominational boards at regional, national and bi-national levels. He enjoyed traveling internationally and felt privileged to connect with extended family members in Paraguay, missionaries in Europe, India and Asia, and to visit Brazil, Ukraine, and Jordan.
He is survived by his wife, Marlene Rempel of Buhler, Kan.; daughters, Valerie Rempel of Fresno, Calif., and Denise (Brian “BJ”) Heizelman of Buhler, Kan.; two granddaughters, Emily (Jerrod) Shafer of Wichita, Kan., and Erin Heizelman of Buhler, Kan.; three great-grandchildren, Everett, Trevor, and Violet Shafer; three sisters, Kay Reimer of Ferndale, Wa., Anne (Hans) Spenst of Abbotsford, BC, and Betty (Hans) Dharmasetia of Richmond, BC.
In addition to Clarice, he was preceded in death by his parents; six brothers, John, Henry, Peter, Gerhard, Jacob and Willy Rempel; two sisters, Nettie Dyck and Mary Craddock.
A celebration of life will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 13, at Buhler Mennonite Brethren Church, with visitation at the church on Thursday, Nov. 12, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
The family is grateful for the care given by Gentiva Hospice and SMRC.
Memorial gifts can be directed to the Buhler MB Church or Sunshine Meadows Retirement Community.