Mennonite Weekly Review
June 2, 2003
81st Year, No. 22
p. 8

Margaret Thaxton
Margaret Risser Thaxton, 85, of St. Petersburg, Fla., died April 30, 2003, at Bayfront Medical Center from complications following heart surgery. She was born Aug. 19, 1917, to Ephraim and Mary Ann (Horst) Risser near Peabody, Kan.
She graduated from Hesston (Kan.) Academy in 1937 and completed nurses training at La Junta, Colo., in 1942. After her graduation from Bethel College, North Newton, Kan., in 1946, she began her career as a nursing instructor at Holzer Hospital in Gallipolis, Ohio. There she met Robert H. Thaxton, whom she married on May 9, 1948.
They moved to Canton, Ohio, in 1951, where she taught nursing at Altman Hospital. In 1957 they moved to St. Petersburg, where she was one of the original faculty of the St. Petersburg Junior College nursing program. She left the college in 1969 and continued nursing in various capacities until her retirement in 1985
She was a member of Clearview United Methodist Church in St. Petersburg and later joined St. Luke's United Methodist Church. At the time of her death, she was a member of Pasadena Community United Methodist Church. A loving and faithful example to her children and grandchildren, her love and care extended to friends and neighbors.
Survivors include three daughters, Mary Ann Cleveland and her husband, Tony; Myrna Thomas and her husband, Rollen; and Marcia Welch and her husband, Tony, all of Tallahassee, Florida; and six grandchildren.
Memorial services were held at Pasadena Community Church.

June 9 - no obituaries published

Mennonite Weekly Review
June 16, 2003
81st Year, No. 24
p. 8

Gladys Thiessen
Gladys Derstine Thiessen, 79, of Hillsboro, Kan., died May 22, 2003, at Parkside Homes. She was born Dec. 22, 1923, to Clarence and Mamie Histand Derstine at Souderton, Pa.
On Aug. 20, 1944, she married Emil A. Thiessen at Fountainville, Pa.
She was an elementary school teacher. She belonged to Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church.
Survivors include her husband, Emil; a son, Lonnie of Wichita; a daughter, Jonelle Barkyoumb of Madison, Wis.; her stepmother, Esther Myers Derstine of Doylestown, Pa.; two brothers, Norman Derstine of Harrisonburg, Va., and Kermit Derstine of Denver; a sister, Beulah Fulmer of Lititz, Pa.; a stepbrother, Gerald Myers of Florida; two stepsisters, Lois and Fridea Myers, both of Doylestown; and five grandchildren.
Funeral services were held at Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church. Burial was in Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Cemetery.

Erma M. Yost
Erma M. Yost, 89, of Hesston, Kan., died June 3, 2003. She was born Oct. 20, 1913, to Ben E. and Ida Pearl (Kauffman) Martin in Garden City, Mo.
She was raised in Minot, N.D., and graduated from Surrey (N.D.) High School. She received her bachelor of arts degree from Goshen (Ind.) College and a master of English degree from Wichita State University.
She married Lyle E. Yost on July 31, 1938, in Minot.
She was a homemaker and a retired public school educator. She developed the first kindergarten in Hesston, was an avid reader (reading more than 1,000 books the last two years), authored Erma's Diary, wrote and edited the Yost Cookbook and edited As He Said. She was an avid golfer and freelance artist. She and her husband enjoyed traveling worldwide throughout their married life.
She was a member of Hesston Mennonite Church, a board member of the Arthritis Foundation's Kansas Chapter, a docent at the Wichita Art Museum and a board member of KPTS public television. She was past president of the Ladies Golf organization at Fox Ridge Golf Course in Newton, past president of the Kansas chapter of the Gideons, and past president and life member of the Hesston Civic Club. She promoted the community theater in Hesston and was a benefactor of the drama building at Goshen (Ind.) College.
Survivors include her husband, Lyle; three sons, Bryon of Castle Rock, Colo., Winston of Larkspur, Colo., and Cameron of Colorado Springs; a daughter, Susan Yost of Larkspur; and six grandchildren.
Services were held at Hesston Mennonite Church. Burial was in East Lawn Cemetery in Zimmerdale.

Miriam K. Clemmer
Miriam K. Clemmer, 93, of Souderton, Pa., and formerly of Norristown, died May 8, 2003, at Souderton Mennonite Homes. She was born March 7, 1910, to Charles B. and Anna Mae Weaver Kolb in Spring City.
She married Markley H. Clemmer on Sept. 12, 1933. He preceded her in death on Nov. 27, 1984.
She committed her life to Jesus Christ as a young lady and remained faithful until her death. She was a member of New Life Mennonite Church in Norristown, where she lived and served along with her husband, Markley, who was the first ordained resident minister at Norristown Mennonite Mission, serving from 1936 until his death. As the pastor's wife at the Mission, later First Mennonite and now New Life Mennonite, she filled many roles including teacher, tutor, mentor, women's group leader, hostess and church cleaner.
She occasionally worked as a home care aide in her later years. She and her husband were church planters while serving in Norristown, and began missions at Bethel, Norristown and in nearby Bridgeport and Conshohocken.
Survivors include two sons, John and his wife, Rachel, of Forked River, N.J., and James and his wife, Janivieve, of Warne, N.C.; four daughters, Rachel Kauffman and her husband, Marlin, of Alto, Mich., Beatrice Swope and her husband, William, of Perkasie; Ruby Trimble and her husband, Philip, of Lititz, and Janet Tweed and her husband, Robert, of Beechwood, N.J.; 17 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Markley; a daughter, Ella Mae; a son, Charles; a brother, Paul Kolb; two sisters, Edna Mae Kolb and Esther Yoder; a grandson and a granddaughter.
Services were held at Souderton Mennonite Homes. Burial was in Vincent Mennonite Cemetery in Spring City.

Maxlyn Schmidt
Addition: The obituary for Maxlyn Schmidt, which ran in the Aug. 5, 2002, issue of Mennonite Weekly Review, should have included, as survivors, a stepbrother, Kenneth Kaufman, and his wife, Joyce, of Palo Alto, Calif.

June 23 - no obituaries published

Mennonite Weekly Review
June 30, 2003
81st Year, No. 26
p. 8

Robert Wayne Vogt
Robert Vogt, 72, of Dinuba, Calif., died May 20, 2003. He was born Dec. 19, 1930, to C.W. and Marie Heidebrecht Vogt in Corn, Okla.
He was raised on a farm. He attended Friendship Country School and Corn public schools.
He received Christ as his Savior and Lord during revival meetings when he was a sophomore in high school. He rededicated his life to Christ the summer after his graduation from high school. He sensed God's call to Christian ministry from his youth.
He attended Tabor College, 1948-52, and Central Baptist Seminary, 1954-57. He had a lifelong yearning to learn and received a doctor of ministry degree in 1984.
While at Tabor he met DeLoris Willems of Inman, Kan. They were married May 25, 1951.
He was a gifted teacher and counselor, taught at Tabor and Pacific College, and served as campus pastor at Fresno Pacific College for several years. He pastored churches in Nebraska, Kansas, Oregon and California, and often said that the 14 years as pastor at Dinuba Mennonite Brethren Church were the highlight of his ministry. He served as chairman of the U.S. Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches for several years, and on boards and committees on the district level. He devoted more than 40 years to full-time ministry.
He had a lifelong interest in athletics and coached for several years at Freeman (S.D.) Junior College. In 2000 he was inducted into the Tabor College Athletic Hall of Fame. He loved music and often sang duets with his wife, DeLoris.
Survivors include his wife of 52 years, DeLoris; four children, Keith of Fresno, Cyndi Isaac and her husband, Stan, of Dinuba, Randy and his wife, LaVonne, of Clovis, and Denise Bese and her husband, Terry, of Dinuba; two brothers, Herb of Corn and John of Hillsboro, Kan; a sister-in-law, Carolyn Winter of Fairview, Okla.; and nine grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by two brothers, Wesley and Gene.
Memorial services were held at Dinuba Mennonite Brethren Church.

John M. Landis
John M. Landis, 88, of Brownsville, Ore., died June 8, 2003. He was born Oct. 19, 1914, to Melvin and Emma (Byler) Landis in Newton, Kan.
He spent his early years in Hesston, Kan., where his father was teaching at Hesston College. He attended high school in Offerle, Kan., and in Enid, Okla., and after graduation attended Phillips University in Enid. He later graduated from John Fletcher College in University Park, Iowa.
While in college he began preaching at a small church as a student preacher and later went to seminary in Naperville, Ill., to prepare for his life work as a pastor and evangelist.
On Aug. 20, 1939, he married Violet Minner of Lost Springs, Kan.
They served churches in Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Michigan and Nebraska. He also spent a number of years in evangelistic work, traveling to preach or to lead music in revival meetings and camp meetings around the country.
He was a member of Yoder (Kan.) Mennonite Church, and for the last several years attended Family Bible Church in Brownsville.
Survivors include two daughters, Faith Wenger and her husband, James, of Baltimore, and Ruth Wenger and her husband, Richard, of Brownsville; two sisters, Roma Munroe of Dickinson, Texas, and Marikay Gerig of Wayland, Iowa; five grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.
Memorial services were held at Family Bible Church. Burial was in the Fairview Cemetery