July 7 - no obituaries published

Mennonite Weekly Review
July 14, 2003
81st Year, No. 28
p. 12

Arthur A. Voth
Arthur Alvin Voth, 82, of Landis Homes Retirement Community of Lititz, Pa., and formerly of Akron, died May 22, 2003, at Ephrata Community Hospital. He was born Oct. 27, 1920, to Jacob F. and Susan Bergen Voth in Newton, Kan.
After graduating from Bethel College in North Newton, Kan., he moved to Akron in 1945. From 1946 to 1948 he worked in Europe for Mennonite Central Committee in the resettlement of war refugees.
He married Anna Mae Gross on Jan. 2, 1949.
He was a travel agent for 33 years for Menno Travel Service in Ephrata. After retirement, he volunteered with Meals on Wheels, with the Mennonite Information Center of Lancaster and the General Store at Landis Homes.
He was a member of Akron Mennonite Church, where he served on many committees. He was a board member of Cross Roads Community Service in North Philadelphia and Tabor Community Services, and he was a deacon at Bethel Mennonite Church.
Survivors include his wife, Anna Mae; two daughters, Susan Elaine Voth of Ephrata and Sandy Horst and her husband, Phil, of Lancaster; a sister, Helen Schmidt of Goessel, Kan.; and two grandsons.
He was preceded in death by a daughter, Cindy Voth.

Mennonite Weekly Review
July 21, 2003
81st Year, No. 29
p. 8

Albert Melvin Harder
Albert Melvin Harder, 76, of Mountain Lake, Minn., died June 29, 2003. He was born Nov. 2, 1926, to Jacob J. and Anna Janzen Harder in their farm home southwest of Mountain Lake.
He attended country school through eighth grade and graduated from Mountain Lake High School. He attended Mountain Lake Bible School two winters. He helped his parents on the farm until 1947, when they moved to Mountain Lake.
He was baptized and joined First Mennonite Church of Mountain Lake on May 28, 1944.
At Mountain Lake he was employed in masonry work. He went to Brook Lane Farm in Maryland, where he volunteered as a construction worker for Mennonite Central Committee, building a mental hospital. There he met Bessie Zimmerly, and they were married May 1, 1949, near Kidron, Ohio.
For the next seven years they moved between bricklaying work near Kidron, farming near Warroad, Minn., and bricklaying and farming near Mountain Lake. In 1956 they settled southeast of Mountain Lake, where they farmed for 40 years. Upon retirement, they moved into Mountain Lake.
He generously gave of his time. A few of his contributions were to local efforts such as Heritage House, Butterfield Threshermen's Association and Mountain Lake Christian Day School. In church he served as a Sunday school teacher, trustee, deacon, congregational chairman and worked with Northern District Conference, including Swan Lake Christian Camp. For MCC he chaired the local meat canninng project for 22 years, helped with Mennonite Disaster Service, the Care and Share Shop and Minn-kota Relief Sale.
Survivors include his wife of 54 years, Bessie; five children, Rebecca Aum of Mendocino, Calif., Rachel Diener and her husband, Nevin, of Harrisonburg, Va., David and his wife, Protoomporn, of Butterfield, Maryann Mbairamadji and her husband, Koffi, of Minneapolis, and Wilma Harder of Goshen, Ind.; four brothers, Jacob W., Lawrence, Leo and Walter, all of Mountain Lake; and seven grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by siblings Theresa Harder, Harry Harder and Anna Harder Nickel.

Mennonite Weekly Review
July 28, 2003
81st Year, No. 30
p. 11

James Francis Sallaska
James Francis Sallaska, 84, of Corn, Okla., died July 6, 2003. He was born Oct. 8, 1918, to Charlie and Lydia (Young) Sallaska, west of Fairview.
When he was a small child his parents moved to a farm southeast of Fairview, where he attended Progressive School through the eighth grade. He then attended Fairview Bible School for three more years, when he graduated. He helped his father on the farm and they ran a threshing crew, threshing wheat and oats.
He was converted and received the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and took it very seriously. He was very concerned that all his family would come to know the Lord, and it was one of the first things he would mention to whomever he met and talked to. He got his brother and then his father to see the need. His mother had been converted earlier, and together all four were baptized and joined Fairview Mennonite Brethren Church in 1936.
In February 1941 he married Miriam Gossen, to whom he was married more than 62 years.
In the fall of 1942, he did alternative service as a conscientious objector in two camps in Colorado. They built roads and large dams.
After his service of three and a half years, they settled on a farm near Fairview and then at Balko for 10 years. After a long period of drought, they moved to their present farm near Corn.
Survivors include his wife, Miriam; a daughter, Darlene Privett and her husband, David, of Henrietta, Texas; three sons, Aldee and his wife, Linda, of Oklahoma City, Orel and his wife, Jeanne, of Corn, and Keith and his wife, Maggie, of McAlester; three brothers, Eugene of Fairview, Charlie of Denver and Vernon of McLoud; six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by a sister, Virginia Sutton.

Melvin C. Gerig
Melvin C. Gerig, 81, of Archbold, Ohio, died June 29, 2003, at the Medical College of Ohio hospital in Toledo. He was born Sept. 30, 1921, to Martin and Emma (Nofziger) Gerig near Wayland, Iowa.
He married Waneta Nofziger on May 19, 1946. She preceded him in death on Dec. 3, 1983. He married Lucille Richer on June 14, 1986.
He lived most of his life in the Wauseon area, moving to the Fairlawn complex in Archbold in 2002. He was a farmer, worked at Wauseon Woodworking Co. for 33 years and at Sauder Village for 14 years.
He served more than three years in Civilian Public Service during World War II and participated in voluntary service in Tucson, Ariz., for four months. He also helped through Mennonite Disaster Service several times. He was a member of North Clinton Mennonite Church near Wauseon.
Survivors include his wife, Lucille; a daughter, Marlene Stuckey and her husband, Gary, of West Unity; six sons, Larry and his wife, Bonnie, of New Holland, Pa., Ronald and his wife, Jody, of Pettisville, Marlin and his wife, Karen, of Archbold, David and his wife, Rhonda, of Kernersville, N.C., LaMar and his wife, Dawn, and Douglas and his wife, Sue, both of Archbold; a son-in-law, Ronald Nafziger of Wauseon; five brothers, Emanuel of Albany, Ore., Allen of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, Eldon of South Bend, Ind., Elmer of Lebanon, Ore., and Willard of Albany, Ore.; three sisters, Frances Yutzy of Kalona, Iowa, Mary Gerig of Albany, Ore., and Minnie Chaffee of West Unity; 23 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his first wife, Waneta; a daughter, Karen Nafziger; a brother, Emery Gerig; and two sisters, Mabel Miller and Elsie Gerig.

Fern H. Derstine
Fern H. Derstine, 63, of Philadelphia, died July 19, 2003, at Chestnut Hill Hospital after a two-and-a-half-year battle with cancer. She was born to Elwyn L. and Margaret Heebner Moyer in Telford.
She married James L. Derstine on June 13, 1959.
After years as a homemaker, she was employed in various professional offices, including several years in the administrative offices of Goshen (Ind.) College. She was self-employed for her remaining years by providing home services like interior decorating, cleaning, food preparation and house sitting. She also managed rental units for the Germantown Mennonite Historic Trust and as a volunteer for her congregation, Germantown Mennonite Church, managed the church property as chair of the trustee committee. Along with her husband, she served as resident staff for several years at the Wyck House and Garden in Philadelphia.
She personally enjoyed gardening, cooking, singing and her grandchildren.
Survivors include her husband, James Derstine; her mother, Margaret Moyer; a daughter, Jodi Derstine Miller and her husband, Bryan, of Colorado Springs, Colo.; a son, J. Darin Derstine of Monterey, Calif.; two brothers, Harleigh Moyer of Ephrata and Bruce Moyer of Moorsville, N.C.; three sisters, Elaine Clemmer of Souderton, Judy Kolb of Goshen, Ind., and Sylvia Derstine of Souderton; and four grandchildren.
Memorial services were held at Rockhill Mennonite Church of Telford.