George Weber Memorial

George was a retired teacher and farmer from Chesley, Ontario. He participated in a 2 week CPT delegation to Chiapas, Mexico in Februrary of 2000 and then completed CPT training in August of 2000. George served with CPT as a reservist for 6 weeks as part of the CPT Hebron team in 2001 and again for 4 weeks in 2002. He was part of the 15 member CPT delegation to Iraq from Dec. 26, 2002 to Jan. 9, 2003.

Links Toronto Area Mennonites more on George Weber. CPTnet Articles -- January 2003. George Weber Remembered Clubphoto album - Sign in as guest with "cpt@igc.org" Delegation photos Dec. 26, 2002 - Jan. 9, 2003

BASRAH, IRAQ - CPT Reservist Killed in Iraq, Delegates Injured, in Highway Rollover

George Weber, 73, of Chesley, Ontario, was killed instantly in a motor accident on Jan. 6, north of Basrah, Iraq, while travelling with a Christian Peacemaker Team ( CPT) delegation.

Six CPT delegates were travelling in a Chevrolet Suburban as part of a 3-vehicle caravan returning to Baghdad from Basrah. The left rear tire blew out causing the car to fish-tail. The driver tried to stabilize the vehicle but it hit the shoulder of the road, flipped over, and rolled to a stop upside-down beside the road. Weber sustained massive head injuries when he was thrown from the vehicle.

Iraqi passers-by and CPT delegates from the other two cars witnessed the crash immediately came to help. The delegation then returned to Basrah where other delegates injured in the crash were examined and treated at a local hospital.

Delegation members said that while in Iraq, Weber had been most deeply touched by the children he saw suffering from radiation-related cancers and the lack of medications under the UN-administered economic sanctions.

Delegation leader Cliff Kindy, 53, of North Manchester, Indiana said, "On this day, Christians celebrate Epiphany when strangers brought gifts from the East. Our delegation came from the West. George Weber brought the gift of his life."

Weber was a retired history teacher and trained CPT Reservist. He served in 2001 and 2002 with the CPT team in Hebron, West Bank. There, he took a particular interest in accompanying Palestinian school children to classes under curfew in the occupied city. With his wife, Lena, he had also spent three years teaching school in Nigeria in the 1960s.

When George got home from CPT work in Hebron in Oct 2002, and learned of the increasing threats of war against Iraq, he immediately decided that he had to join a CPT delegation to Iraq. His wife Lena reported that he said to her, "I just can't sit back and do nothing. What would I say to my grandchildren? I have to do what I can." Before he left, in an interview with his local newspaper, George said, "We are going to suffer along with the Iraqis. It's an opportunity to light a candle instead of cursing the dark."

On Dec. 10, 2002 George wrote the following letter to fellow CPTer Jim Loney in response to a conversation they were pursuing at the time. The letter was read at George’s Memorial Service by Jim. It reflects the confident maturity that characterized George’s life and witness.

"Dear Jim,
…Something that greatly troubles me is what I can only describe as the “dark side of human nature.” Wherever one goes through the world at present, no matter what the race, culture or religion, some men are treating their fellow humans with cruelty and contempt. A few years ago my wife and I were in Cambodia to see Angkor. We toured around on our own, except for touring the ruins at Angkor. It was an amazing trip. But when I looked at the monument made of human skulls, I was confronted with the obscenity of the Pol Pot regime. How could these gentle people, followers of Buddha, have participated in the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of their own people?

"Throughout history, at the present time, people everywhere are subjecting their fellow humans to lives of misery and despair. No matter what the race, culture or religion. So it behooves me to concentrate my criticisms on my own background. Countries and cultures which have Christianity as the dominant religion have been and are in the forefront of the mistreatment of their fellowmen. This in spite of the origins of the religion….This is where I come from….Christianity in the western world has been no more effective than had Buddhism in Cambodia. And that’s the monkey we all have on our back.

"As a CPTer I must always be aware of that “monkey.” It should keep me humble. And sensitive. And understanding. But it should not keep me from being a CPTer It should not stop me from speaking out against the injustices being perpetrated in so many places against so many people…

"I suppose that’s the main reason that I’ve got my name on the list for the probable Dec. 27 delegation to Iraq. The Muslim world is being portrayed by the West as being evil in every way. True, there are many problems in many places where Islam is the dominant religion. But to put the blame on Islam as a religion is as bad as blaming the West’s evil on the Christianity of George W. Bush. He is not Christianity. But unfortunately to many in the Muslim world, Bush, the use of force, the monetary system and control, the lifestyle of the rich and famous, the garbage of the entertainment industry—these are the images and realities which describe Christianity to them. Not fair, we say, but since we proclaim that we live in democracies, where the will of the people prevails, we have a difficult task to convince them otherwise. A CPT delegation won’t do it, but I feel that I need to do the delegation. It will be a bit hard to explain to people. But so be it.

"…All the blessings of the Christmas season. There is hope!      George"

Doug Pritchard , CPT Canada gave a eulogy on behalf of CPT at the funeral service for George. We close our tribute to George with part of Doug’s comments on the funeral.

"We have now accompanied our dear friend George Weber along another step of his journey home. Twenty-one CPTers and partners participated in the funeral service at his home town of Chesley ON yesterday [January 13.] It was a very snowy, blowy day with all schools and some roads closed but most people were able to get there. Gene Stoltzfus came from Chicago, and another delegation member from George's vehicle, Pat Basler and wife Lucy, drove from Wisconsin. the rest were from Ontario.

"The church was full. At the front was the simple made-to-measure casket he had travelled in from Iraq topped by lovely photo of him and a green CPT Directory with the "Getting in Way" logo prominent.George was wearing the suit he had ordered on arrival in Baghdad and which Jim Loney picked up for him on their return to Baghdad and which he wore for the journey home.

[After a time of sharing reflections], the CPTers then flanked the casket and sang, "O Healing River," which the delegation had also sung at their memorial service for George in Basrah the day after the accident. The image of the healing river flows from the rivers around the Garden of Eden (near Basrah) in Genesis to the River of Life flowing from the throne of God in the new heaven and the new earth of Revelation. On either side of that new river is the tree of life "whose leaves are for the healing of the nations" (Rev 22:2). George was a part of that healing of the nations.

"After the service the CPTers donned their red hats and formed one side of an honour guard from the bottom of the steps of the church to the hearse and George's Rotary Club colleagues formed the other side. The pall bearers brought the casket down the steps, through our honour guard, and into the hearse. We then followed the hearse on foot for several blocks through the snow storm to the funeral home where his body would wait until the roads were clear enough to drive to the crematorium in Owen Sound."