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Mennonite
Weekly Review -
October 2008
Blough, Ronald Lamar; Buller,
Beatrice R. Rosenthal;
Claassen,
Gertrude Claassen; Eshleman,
Arlene H.;
Mennonite
Weekly Review - October 6, 2008
There were no obituaries in this
issue.
Mennonite Weekly Review -October 13, 2008 - 86th Year, No. 38 - p. 9
Eshleman, Arlene H.
Arlene Heatwole Eshleman, 98,
died Oct. 1, 2008, in Elkhart, Ind. She was born Dec. 7, 1909, in
Rockingham County, Va., to Amos and Sallie Heatwole.
She graduated from high school at Eastern Mennonite School in
Harrisonburg, Va., and from Dunsmore Business College.
On June 28, 1933, she married Harold G. Eshleman, a public school
teacher who was later ordained as a minister. During their
marriage of 64 years, she faithfully supported her husband’s church
work by serving as church secretary, home office manager and hostess.
She was a long-time member of Harrisonburg Mennonite Church.
Survivors include three children, Robert Eshleman and his wife,
Rosalie, of Midlothian, Va., Ruth Schrock and her husband, Devon, of
Goshen, Ind.; and Kenneth Eshleman and his wife, Myrna, of
Mechanicsburg, Pa.; two sisters, Nellie Early and Dorothy Smith; five
grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Harold, on Feb. 27, 1998; her
grandson Lee Eshleman on May 17, 2007; one brother and four sisters.
A memorial service will be held at Harrisonburg Mennonite Church on
Oct. 18.
Mennonite
Weekly Review - October 20, 2008 - 86th Year, No. 39 - p. 21
Claassen, Gertrude Claassen
Gertrude Claassen, 84,
of Beatrice, Neb., died Sept. 15, 2008. She was born Oct. 31, 1923, to
Henry P. and Elizabeth (Thimm) Claassen in Beatrice.
On Feb. 2, 1945, she married Don Aron Claassen.
She was a member of Beatrice Mennonite Church, where she served as
church secretary for many years. She also volunteered in many settings,
including Ten Thousand Villages in Lincoln. She enjoyed being a
homemaker, caring for her family, hosting guests in her home, doing
homework and being creative in her kitchen.
Survivors include her husband, Don; two daughters, Barbara Kaufman and
her husband, Dick, of Hutchinson, Kan., and Kathryn Colwell Hill and
her husband, Hal, of Richmond, Va.; five grandchildren; three
great-grandchildren; nieces and nephews; and special friends Ted and
Diane Summers and family.
She was preceded in death by two sisters, Frieda Claassen and Dorthy
Goossen.
Funeral services were held at Beatrice Mennonite Church. Burial was in
the Mennonite Cemetery of rural Beatrice.
Mennonite Weekly Review - October 27, 2008 - 86th Year, No. 40 - p. 9
---------------
Buller, Beatrice R. Rosenthal
Beatrice Rosenthal Buller died
Oct. 12, 2008, in a Dallas, Texas, hospital. As in the 1930s, she again
had become a refugee, this time not to escape the fury of the
Nazis but that of Hurricane Ike, which threatened her home in Beaumont.
She was born in 1920 in Duisburg, Germany, a child of a middle class
Jewish family. Her father was a prominent lawyer in that city. The
anti-Jewish policies of the Nazis forced the Rosenthal family to leave
Germany in the early 1930s and to settle in Antwerp, Belgium. When the
Germans invaded that country in May 1940, the Rosenthal family fled to
unoccupied France, where they were able to find safe hiding places. She
settled in Lyon, where she found employment at the Mennonite Central
Committee office. There she met MCC worker Henry Buller, whom she would
marry on Nov. 11, 1942, on the same day the Germans occupied the rest
of France. They had hoped she would be baptized by Fritz Gerber, pastor
of the Mennonite church in Langnau, Switzerland, but baptism would have
to wait until they settled in the United States. Subsequently, she,
Henry, other relief workers, American diplomats and journalists were
interned for more than one year in Baden-Baden, Germany.
Soon after their release in February 1944, Henry returned to
war-stricken Europe. She would join him in France after the war to
resume MCC relief work. Upon their return home, she graduated from and
taught foreign languages at Bethel College in North Newton, Kan. Having
no children of their own, they adopted Rene, a French orphan.
Tragically, Rene was killed in Vietnam on March 27, 1969, where he
served as a medic with the U.S. Army.
For many years they lived in Beaumont, where Henry taught at Lamar
University. He preceded her in death in 1993. She kept busy, in spite
of some major health problems, teaching and doing local volunteer work.
She will be missed by many friends in Beaumont and many Mennonites, who
very much appreciated her for her kind and lively spirit.
-----------------
Blough, Ronald Lamar
Ronald Lamar Blough, 54, pastor
of Greeley (Colo.) Mennonite Church, died of a cardiac arrest on Aug.
22, 2008, at his home near Windsor. He was born Oct. 28, 1953, to
Robert Samuel Blough and Mary Edna Nisly Blough Miller in Canton, Ohio.
He was raised and educated in Ohio. He attended the University of
Akron, Ohio, and received his master of divinity degree at Eastern
Mennonite Seminary in Harrisonburg, Va. He worked as a master
carpenter, and he pastored Mennonite churches in Harleysville, Pa.,
Louisville, Ohio, and Greeley.
He married Rhoda Miller on June 21, 1975, in Burton, Ohio.
He was a devoted husband, father, son, uncle and friend. He was an avid
bird watcher, gardener and enjoyed the outdoors and nature. He also
enjoyed cooking gourmet meals for his family and friends. He
always had a story, a warm hug and a listening ear.
Survivors include his wife, Rhoda; two daughters, Bethany Simpson and
her husband, John, of Denver, and Brooke Blough of Goshen, Ind.; his
mother, Mary; two sisters, Brenda LaTulippe and her husband, Keith, of
Asheville, N.C., and Delores Blough of Harrisonburg, Va.; a brother,
Dwayne Blough and his wife, Pam, of Mogadore, Ohio; an expected
grandchild; and numerous nieces and nephews.
A celebration of life service was held at Greeley Mennonite Church.
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Mennonite Publishing House, Scottdale, PA
Used with permission by the Archives of the Mennonite Church, Goshen,
INDIANA
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