Mennonite World Review - August 3, 2015 - 93rd Year, No. 16 - p. 19

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Zehr, Marvin Dean

Marvin Dean Zehr, 89, of Waverly, Iowa, died July 7, 2015. He was born Jan. 13, 1926, to John and Marie Zehr in Manson.

He was a longtime member of Manson Mennonite Church and the last year at Cedar Falls Mennonite Church. He was a farmer all his working years and also served as an emergency medical technician in the Fort Dodge hospital for 16 years.

Survivors include his wife, Florence; two daughters, Barbara Yoder and her husband, Sanford, of Asheville, N.C., and Julia Cowan and her husband, Alan, of Sweet Home, Ore.; three sons, John Zehr and his wife, Jane, of Waverly, Cal Zehr and his wife, Carol, of Tiskilwa, Ill., and Stan Zehr and his wife, Jennifer, of Centreville, Va.; his twin brother, Melvin Zehr of Fort Dodge; 14 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Services were held at Manson Mennonite Church.

Mennonite World Review - August 17, 2015 - 93rd Year, No. 17 - p. 15

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Wiens, Allen

Allen Wiens, 67, died July 31, 2015, in Buhler, Kan. He was born Aug. 28, 1947, to Jacob and Martha Schroeder Wiens in Hutchinson.

He was a carpenter, a member of Buhler Mennonite Church and the Buhler Jaycees. On July 19, 1970, he married Carol Ann Barth at Buhler.

Survivors include his children, Brenda Wiens and her husband, Jeremy Evan Sundgren, of Gainesville, Fla., Becky Wiens of Hutchinson, Sarah Morgan and her husband, Aaron, of De Pere, Wis., Aaron Wiens of Buhler and Emily Thrasher and her husband, Travis, of Russell; a brother, Jerry D. Wiens of Hutchinson; two sisters, Donna M. Dick of Wichita and Janice L. Overman of Newton; and four grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Carol, on Nov. 11, 2014.
Funeral services were held at Buhler Mennonite Church. Burial was in the Hebron Cemetery, Buhler.

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Snider, Howard Mervin

Howard Mervin Snider, 92, Bethel College professor emeritus, died Aug. 2, 2015, in North Newton, Kan. He was born March 19, 1923, to Clemens and Samantha (Biehn) Snider in Guernsey, Sask.

He finished high school at Rosthern (Sask.) Academy in 1942. In the mid-1940s, he did alternative service in Saskatchewan, then had a short term of study at Canadian Bible Institute in Regina. After several years of working on farms in Alberta and Saskatchewan, he attended Eastern Mennonite College, Harrisonburg, Va., in 1948-49.

Once back in his home community, he purchased a farm and was ordained minister in Sharon Mennonite Church in 1950. In 1953, he went to Goshen (Ind.) College to complete college and attend seminary. Here he met Marie Gingerich from Lowville, N.Y., and they were married Nov. 27, 1954.

He then wrote adult Sunday school curriculum at Mennonite Publishing House, Scottdale, Pa. In 1957, both he and Marie graduated from Goshen Biblical Seminary and moved to Edmonton, Alta., where he became pastor of the newly formed Holyrood Mennonite Church. He also prepared for college teaching and earned a master's degree in sociology from the University of Alberta. After a brief stint as regional pastor for Mennonite university students in British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba, he and his family moved to North Newton in 1966. He taught at Bethel College for almost 30 years. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas.

He traveled widely, with multiple trips across the United States and Canada and study trips to South and Central America and the Caribbean. Until age 78, he went skiing with a friend each winter.

Based on his interest in sociology of religion, he authored four books about theology since retirement. His last book will be published this month.
Survivors include his wife, Marie; daughter Vada Snider of North Newton; son Conrad Snider of Newton; and brother and sister-in-law James and Roberta Gingerich of Moundridge.

He was preceded in death by his siblings, Verda Weber, Elva Heintz and Orval Snider.

Memorial services will be held Aug. 17 at Bethel College Mennonite Church.

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Klaassen, Glendon J.

Glendon J. Klaassen, 82, died Aug. 1, 2015. He was born March 30, 1933, to Jacob A. and Sarah Unruh Klaassen in Mountain Lake, Minn.

He grew up in Mountain Lake on a farm and accepted Christ at an early age. He graduated from Grace Bible Institute in Omaha, Neb., where he met the love of his life, Reitha Kaufman. They were married July 15, 1955, in Newton, Kan.

He continued his education at the University of Omaha in social work, graduated from Goshen (Ind.) College with a degree in secondary education in 1958 and in 1974 obtained a master of divinity degree from Mennonite Biblical Seminary.

He was ordained as a minister on July 19, 1959. He and Reitha confirmed a call to become mission workers in Colombia with the Board of Missions of the General Conference Mennonite Church of Newton. On Aug. 28, 1959, they left for 18 years of mission work in Colombia. They aided in ministries to children, teaching at Bible schools, setting up churches, teaching and leading people to know Christ and understand the joy of salvation. They returned to Newton in 1977.

He accepted the call to pastor Hoffnungsau Mennonite Church in Inman, Kan., in 1979; and in 1981 he accepted a call from the Commission on Overseas Mission to become the secretary of Latin America and later executive secretary, in Newton, where he retired in 1998. He enjoyed family, traveling, music, tennis and various collections, including stamps and foreign currency from all of his travels.

In 2011, he was diagnosed with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy. He fought the disease courageously and died at his home in The Villages, Fla.

Survivors include his wife of 60 years, Reitha; four children, Mark Klaassen and his wife, Susan, of Indiana, Steve Klaassen and his wife, Evie, of Florida, James Klaassen and his wife, Catherine, of New Jersey, and Marcella Andres and her husband, Steve, of Kansas; an older sister, Ethel Neufeld of California; a brother, Marvin Klaassen of Pennsylvania; and a younger sister, Jeanette Kroeker of Nebraska; 11 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

A celebration of his life service will be held Sept. 6 at Eighth Street Mennonite Church in Goshen.

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Wenger, David Henry

David Henry Wenger, 77, of Wayland, Iowa, died July 5, 2015. He was born March 30, 1938, to Emery and Mary (Roth) Wenger in Washington County.

He attended country school and graduated from Olds High School in 1956. He attended Hesston (Kan.) College for two years and then served in 1-W at the Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, Ind., for two years. He married Arlene Yoder on June 15, 1963.

They began farming west of Swedesburg in 1963 and farmed for more than 50 years. He was an active member of Sugar Creek Mennonite Church of rural Wayland. He enjoyed spending time with his family, was an avid car collector and enjoyed going to car shows.

Survivors include his wife of 52 years, Arlene; three children, Kevin Wenger and his wife, Dorothy, of Mount Pleasant, Jan Kauffman and her husband, John, of Monroeville, Ind., and Jon Wenger and his wife, Ginger, of Mount Pleasant; three sisters, Mildred Gingerich of North English, Beulah Steiner and Mary Headings, both of Wooster, Ohio; and seven grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by an infant granddaughter, Brenna Wenger.
Funeral services were held at Sugar Creek Mennonite Church of Wayland. Burial was in Sugar Creek Cemetery.

Mennonite World Review - August 31, 2015 - 93rd Year, No. 18 - p. 15

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Ediger, Viola Edna Duerksen

Viola Edna Duerksen Ediger, 92, of North Newton, Kan., died Aug. 11, 2015. She was born Aug. 27, 1922, near Inman.

At a young age, she felt a calling to be a missionary. She attended Bethel College for several years before leaving to teach school near Inman and then in Newton. She went to California and Poughkeepsie, N.Y., for voluntary service, and then to Paraguay for two years with Mennonite Central Committee, where she taught school in German to Mennonite refugees. There her calling to be a missionary was strengthened, and she came back to Bethel College with that resolve. She met Ferd Ediger, a Canadian, at Bethel, who also had this sense of calling. They married in 1950.

After seminary in Chicago, they went to Japan to serve with the Commission on Overseas Mission of the General Conference Mennonite Church. After two years of language study in Kobe, they began church planting in Hyuga on the southern­most island of Kyushu. After several years in Hyuga and a year of furlough in North America, Ferd was invited to direct the Mennonite Central Committee Peace Section office in Tokyo, so they moved there. They served in Japan from 1953 to 1983. Most of those years were spent church planting, teaching English, doing peace work and raising their three children.

She and Ferd came back to Canada due to health concerns. Ferd pastored a church in Regina, Sask., until his death in 1988.

She traveled occasionally to Kansas as a member of the Mennonite Mission Board and there ran into Stan Voth, a friend from college. They were married in 1992.

She enjoyed traveling, reading, music, gardening and being with people.

Survivors include her husband of 23 years, Stan Voth; five children; eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Memorial services were held at Bethel College Mennonite Church in North Newton.