Mennonite Weekly Review - September
2007
Dyck, Marwood;
Ediger, Abe S.;
Goering, Arthur Delbert; Koerner, Loray D.;
Ladwig, Selma Jantz; Regier, Daniel
G.; Souder, Paul F.;
Swartzendruber, Wilbur; Wiebe, Edward; Zook, Merle Kenneth;
Mennonite Weekly Review - September 3, 2007 - 85th Year, No. 36 - p. 9
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Selma
(Jantz) Ladwig, 88, of Ponca City, Okla., died June 25, 2007.
She was born Oct. 20, 1918, to Ferdinand and Anna (Friesen) Jantz on a
farm near Inola.
She grew up on this farm, attended rural Highway Elementary School and
graduated valedictorian in 1937 from Chouteau High School. She attended
John Brown University at Siloam Springs, Ark., for two years. She
received a life certificate to teach and taught in rural schools around
Inola. In summers she attended Northeastern State College at Tahlequah
until she graduated in 1945 with a bachelor’s degree in education.
She made a commitment to the Lord early in life and was baptized in May
1934 into membership at Eden Mennonite Church of Inola. She was
involved in every phase of church work, especially in children’s work.
She organized the first vacation Bible school, led children’s choir,
was Sunday school superintendent and teacher. Later she was active in
Women in Mission. She loved music and sang in the choir and other
ensembles. She remained a faithful member until her death and delighted
children and adults with her wonderful children’s moments.
She married Emmett Ladwig on June 4, 1947. They built a home one mile
east of Eden church on an 80-acre farm. That ended her teaching career
except for substitute teaching. She sold the farm in 2000 and moved to
Ponca City to be near daughter Vicki.
Survivors include two daughters, Vicki Rogers and her husband, John, of
Ponca City, and Debra Hignite and her husband, Mike, of Eagle River,
Ark.; a sister, Elvera Pankratz of Inola; a brother, Ted Jantz of
Reseda, Calif.; and three grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Emmett, on April 22, 1990; a
son, Roy Emmett Ladwig; four sisters, Dora, Hannah, Lena and Anna; and
four brothers, Rudy, Alvin, Herman and Vic.
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Abe S.
Ediger, 101, of Salem, Ore., and formerly of California, died
July 7, 2007. He was born Oct. 25, 1905, in Buhler, Kan.
He was married for 39 years to Frances Gloeckler, whom he met at Tabor
College in Hillsboro, Kan. She preceded him in death. He was married to
Frieda Friesen Hagen for 32 years.
He felt privileged to farm and farmed for 45 years in the Wasco,
Calif., area and opened new ground there. He was grateful to
participate in the miracle of growth and the cycles of life. After
farming he retired to Fresno, and later moved to Reedley and San Jose
prior to spending the last three years in Salem.
He loved his Lord and Savior and looked forward to eternal life with
God. He loved, supported and participated in the Mennonite Brethren
church in many ways. He especially loved singing. He was a generous
giver, acknowledging that all he had came from God. He viewed himself
as one of God’s stewards.
After surviving losses, herbicides, pesticides, cancer, a crushed leg,
heart attacks, accidents, a broken hip at age 99 and a big celebration
of his 100th birthday, he completed his journey and reached his
heavenly home.
Survivors include his wife, Frieda Ediger; four children, Jeanette
Flaming, Evelyn Heinrichs, Dan Ediger and Jim Ediger; six grandchildren
and three great-grandchildren.
Services were held at Shafter Mennonite Brethren Church.
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Merle
Kenneth Zook, 79, of Denver, Colo., died July 22, 2007. He was
born Jan. 23, 1928, to Uriel and Kathryn Zook in Allensville, Pa.
After graduating from both Allensville High School and Eastern
Mennonite School, he moved to Hannibal, Mo., where he worked as an
orderly in a hospital. He met Grace Wenger there, and they were married
on April 17, 1949.
He worked as a Linotype operator at Mennonite Publishing House from
1950 to 1958, when the family moved to Denver. He continued his career
in the printing field. He also discovered a passion for amateur radio
that continued as his lifelong hobby.
After the death of Grace in 1987, he volunteered with Mennonite Central
Committee at Akron, Pa., for two years. He then enjoyed retirement in
Denver. He injured his leg in the spring of 2006, which never healed,
resulting in an amputation in January 2007. Although this was a
difficult challenge, he was working hard at resuming independence again
when he died of a heart attack.
Survivors include four children, Ken Zook and his wife, Mae, Barbara
Swartzendruber and her husband, Stan, Rose Barber and her husband,
Mike, and Les Gustafson-Zook and his wife, Gwen; four grandchildren and
two great-grandchildren.
Services were held at Glennon Heights Mennonite Church of Lakewood,
Colo.
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Wilbur
Swartzendruber, 82, of Wellman, Iowa, died Aug. 18, 2007, at
Parkview Manor after a lengthy illness. He was born June 24, 1925, to
Peter and Lydia Swartzendruber in Johnson County near Wellman.
He married Lois on June 5, 1949, in Wayland.
They lived in Wellman, where he was an auctioneer and an active member
of Wellman Mennonite Church. He was very involved in the Wellman
community, where he served as mayor of Wellman for four years, on the
city council for two years, with the Wellman Volunteer Fire Department
since 1957 and the Wellman Cooperative Telephone Association for 40
years. He was past president of the Wellman Community Club and charter
member of the Jolly Men’s Club. He helped organize the Iowa Mennonite
Central Committee annual sale, volunteered with Mennonite Disaster
Service, Habitat for Humanity and as an auctioneer for the Pleasantview
Benefit Sale and Johnson County 4-H Fair auction.
Survivors include his wife, Lois Swartzendruber of Wellman; a daughter,
Joyce Swartzendruber and her husband, James Melnis, of Orono, Maine;
two sons, Doug Swartzendruber and his wife, Gail, of Castro Valley,
Calif., and Jim Swartzendruber of North Liberty; two brothers, Mark
Swartzendruber of Kalona and John Swartzendruber of Wayland; and a
sister, Faith Carpenter of Sturgis, Mich.
Services were held at Wellman Mennonite Church. Private graveside
services were held in Wellman Mennonite Cemetery.
Mennonite Weekly Review - September 10, 2007 - 85th Year, No. 37 - p. 9
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Marwood Dyck,
80, of Fresno, Calif., died Aug. 14, 2007. He was born to Gerhard and
Louise Dyck in southern Ontario shortly after his parents immigrated
from Russia.
In August 1954, he married Naomi Hiebert, whom he met while attending
Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kan.
They lived most of their married life in Fresno, where he was a teacher
and administrator in the Fresno Unified School District for more than
40 years. From 1959 to 1965, he and his family lived in Amsterdam, the
Netherlands, where he was director of Menno Travel Service. He was an
active member of College Community Mennonite Brethren Church in Clovis.
Survivors include his wife of 53 years, Naomi; four children, Eloise
Janzen and her husband, Herman, Christine Lovell and her husband,
Donald, Carl Dyck and his wife, Sue, all of Fresno, and Elizabeth
Gottsch and her husband, Michael, of Hillsboro, Kan.; two sisters,
Louise Derksen and Frieda Willms, both of Ontario; a brother, Peter
Dyck of Ontario; and 12 grandchildren.
Memorial services were held at College Community Mennonite Brethren
Church in Clovis.
Mennonite Weekly Review - September 17, 2007 - 85th Year, No. 38 - p. 8
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Loray
D. Koerner, 88, of Flanagan, Ill., died Aug. 14, 2007, at OSF
Saint James-John W. Albrecht Medical Center in Pontiac. He was born
Oct. 6, 1918, to Henry and Sadie Shantz Koerner at Kempton.
He married Nettie F. Eigsti on June 10, 1944, at Flanagan Mennonite
Church.
He was a member of Prairieview Mennonite Church of rural Gridley and
served as a Sunday school teacher. He was the owner and operator of
Cullom Bus Service, serving the Cullom School District. He later worked
as a mechanic at various places and was a representative for Snap On
Tools from 1957 to 1981. He was an avid fisherman and did volunteer
work at the Spare N Share in Gridley.
Survivors include his wife of 63 years, Nettie; two daughters, Bonnie
Stucky and her husband, Roger, of Gridley, and Rebecca Koerner of
Westbrook, Maine; a son, David Koerner and his wife, Rose, of Kalona,
Iowa; a brother, Orie Koerner of Kempton; four grandchildren and three
great-grandchildren.
Funeral services were held at Prairieview Mennonite Church. Burial was
in Waldo Township Cemetery of rural Gridley.
Mennonite
Weekly Review - September 24, 2007 - 85th Year, No. 39 - p. 8
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Paul F.
Souder, 93, a lifelong resident of Sellersville, Pa., died Sept.
12, 2007, at Rockhill Mennonite Community. He was born in Sellersville
to Harvey A. and Bessie H. (Freed) Souder and attended Sell-Perk High
School and Lansdale School of Business.
He was the husband of Grace B. (Detwiler) Souder for 69 years at the
time of her death in February.
Upon the death of his father in 1939, he assumed responsibility for his
family’s poultry business and automobile and homeowner’s insurance
agency. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s he operated Highland Farms, his
family homestead, selling day-old turkey poults.
Upon his father’s death he assumed his father’s seat on the board of
directors at Sellersville Savings & Loan. He served the
organization for decades and as their president for 25 years. He was a
charter member of Penn Foundation for Mental Health in Sellersville,
serving on their board for many years.
He enjoyed classic cars and was a member of the Model A Ford Club of
America. He loved to travel and enjoyed boating, hunting and fishing,
snow and water skiing. He raised horses and ponies. He supported
charities with his time, advice and resources. He was a longtime member
of Blooming Glen Mennonite Church, where he served on the board of
trustees, building and land development committees and stewardship and
finance committees. In his young adulthood he was a member of Rockhill
Mennonite Church in Telford.
Survivors include three children, P. Don Souder and his wife, Sharon,
of Orrville, Ohio, Grace Marie Gerber and her husband, Steve, of
Sellersville, and Feryl K. Souder and his wife, Connie, of
Sellersville; three sisters, Ruth F. Souder and Eva S. Moyer, both of
Souderton, and Marie Shisler of Harleysville; Earl C. Landis, who lived
with the family during his teenage years, and his wife, Dottie, of
Souderton; eight grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; three
step-grandchildren and step-great-grandchildren.
Funeral services were held at Blooming Glen Mennonite Church. Burial
was in Blooming Glen Mennonite Church Cemetery.
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Arthur
Delbert Goering, 80, of North Newton, Kan., died Sept. 5, 2007,
from acute leukemia. He was born June 28, 1927, to Johnnie B. and
Jessie Schrag Goering on a farm near Moundridge.
When he was 9 his mother died. The family moved north of Canton and
established a dairy, and he did milk delivery throughout Canton.
He graduated from Bethel College in North Newton in 1951 after taking a
year off to teach in a rural one-room school. Later he earned a
master’s degree from Wichita State University and a specialist in
education degree from Emporia State.
After graduation from Bethel, he was drafted and served as a
non-combatant in the Armed Forces for two years, mostly doing
laboratory work in Germany.
He married Rosella Goossen on Oct. 6, 1956, at Alexanderwohl Mennonite
Church of rural Goessel. They lived in Wichita for more than 30 years.
After his retirement they moved to Newton.
He taught ninth-grade mathematics at Pleasant Valley Junior High School
for 32 years.
He was baptized at Eden Mennonite Church, then moved his membership to
Elbing Mennonite Church. He was a member of Lorraine Avenue Mennonite
Church in Wichita for 40 years. Most recently he was a member at Faith
Mennonite Church in Newton.
He enjoyed volunteering and was a docent at Kauffman Museum. For about
25 years he was involved in Offender Victim Ministries. He received a
10-year recognition from El Dorado Correctional Facility with the Man
to Man prison ministry. He visited all 50 states and Europe, China,
Egypt, Brazil and Peru. He was a great reader and liked woodworking and
gardening.
Survivors include wife, Rosie; three children, Randall and his wife,
Carol, of Newton, Steven and his wife, Mary, of Evanston, Ill., and Jan
Baty and her husband, Ross, of Missoula, Mont.; two sisters, Martha
Sundgren of North Newton and Joan Epp of Goessel; five brothers,
Leonard of Newton, John of Gresham, Ore., Jim of Dayton, Va., Harry of
Menifee, Calif., and Larry of Ayden, N.C.; brother-in-law Walter Regier
and sister-in-law Dorothea Goering; and six grandchildren.
-----------------
Daniel
G. Regier, 84, of Hesston, Kan., died Aug. 22, 2007, at
Schowalter Villa. He was born March 15, 1923, to George B. and Maria
(Janzen) Regier in Inola, Okla.
In June 1947, he married Goldie J. Neufeld of Medford, Okla. They moved
to Omaha, Neb., to pursue studies at Grace Bible Institute.
He began his pastoral ministry in 1949 at Swiss Mennonite Church in
Alsen, N.D., and later went on to minister at Glendale Mennonite Church
in Lynden, Wash., Gospel Mennonite Church in Mountain Lake, Minn.,
First Mennonite Church in Clinton, Okla., Emmanuel Mennonite Church in
Reinholds, Pa., and finally in 1985 at Beaver Run Mennonite Church in
Watsontown, Pa. He served as president of Pacific District Conference
in the 1950s and Northern District Conference in the 1960s. From 1975
to 1980, after completing studies in health care administration, he
took a break from pastoring and worked as head administrator of
Memorial Home for the Aged in Moundridge and as assistant administrator
at Frederick (Pa.) Mennonite Home. In retirement he was a member of
First Mennonite Church in Newton, where he taught Sunday school and he
and his wife, Goldie, served on the Pastoral Visitation Team.
Survivors include his wife of 60 years, Goldie; two children, Sheryl
Wineinger and her husband, Bill, of Andover and Sandra Unruh and her
husband, Kent, of Denver, Pa.; a brother, Bill Regier of Elbing; four
grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
Funeral services were held at First Mennonite Church of Newton. Burial
was in Greenwood Cemetery.
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Edward Wiebe,
90, of Huron, S.D., died Sept. 14, 2007, at Violet Tschetter Memorial
Home. He was born Dec. 26, 1916, in Whitewater, Kan., to Herman and
Anna (Epp) Wiebe.
He had polio as a farm boy, causing a limp that was his “trademark.” He
attended Hesston College, where he met his future wife, Velma
Litwiller. He also attended Goshen (Ind.) College, BIOLA
University and Southwestern Baptist Seminary.
On July 20, 1946, he married Velma Litwiller on her parents’ farm at
Hopedale, Ill.
He pastored churches at Go Ye Mission in Porum, Okla., at West New
Hopedale Mennonite Church in Ringwood, Okla., at Mount Olivet Mennonite
Church in Huron and at Bethel Community Church in Santa Fe Springs,
Calif. He served as the administrator at Pleasant View Nursing Home in
Inman, Kan., and pastored at Durham, Kan., at the same time. He retired
in 1989 in Rockford, Ill., and continued pulpit supply while he was
active in the Shiloh Free Church. They moved to Huron in November 2005.
He enjoyed visiting his parents’ and brothers’ farms in Kansas. He was
an avid woodworker and made furniture for his children and
grandchildren. His hobbies included table games, gardening and
listening to Southern Gospel music, especially Bill Gaither. His heart
was in the ministry.
Survivors include two sons, Gary Wiebe and his wife, Nancy, of
Belvidere, Ill., and Daniel Wiebe and his wife, Doris, of Pueblo,
Colo.; two daughters, Cheryl Hofer of Huron and Beth Bowers and her
husband, Larry, of Highlands Ranch, Colo.; three brothers, Richard,
Waldimar and Bill Wiebe; and three sisters, Hilda Regier, Emilie
Busenitz and Gladys Wiebe; 11 grandchildren and seven
great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Velma, on June 25, 2007; a
brother, Alfred; and a sister, Esther.
Funeral services were held at Mount Olivet Mennonite Church in Huron.
Burial was in Ideal Cemetery.
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Mennonite Publishing House, Scottdale, PA
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INDIANA
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