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Mennonite Weekly Review - February, 2006
  Baker, Valera;   Hershberger, Samuel Lee;   Kauffman, Clara;   Kuttab, George M.;   Schmidt, Frederick Paul;  Vogt, Vernon W.; 


Mennonite Weekly Review - February 6, 2006 - 84th Year, No. 6 - p. 8

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Vernon W. Vogt, 83, of North Newton, Kan., died Jan. 28, 2006. He was born June 13, 1922, to J.W. and Martha (Wiens) Vogt in Bessie, Okla.
On Aug. 24, 1944, he married Mildred Harder near Ogallala, Neb.
He was a graduate of Tabor College in Hillsboro and the University of Nebraska Medical School. He also attended Friends University in Wichita and Tulane University in New Orleans, La.
He was a medical missionary for the Mennonite Brethren in the Belgium Congo from 1957-61 before beginning a medical practice at Bethel Clinic in Newton. He retired from the medical profession in 1991. After retirement, he volunteered his time for many years with Harvey County Health Ministries. He also traveled to six countries on short-term medical mission trips.
He was a member of Koerner Heights Church of the Mennonite Brethren and served as an assistant to numerous pastors. He held many positions and sang in the choir. He also served on conference boards of the Mennonite Brethren Conference Southern District.
Survivors include his wife, Mildred; a son, Richard Vogt and his wife, Natise, of Newton; two daughters, Janet Vogt of Wichita and Joyce Wahr and her husband, Dennis, of Minneapolis, Minn.; two brothers, Harold Vogt of Wichita and Milton Vogt of Savanna, Okla.; and five grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by a son, Ken Vogt; and two brothers, Eugene and Cornelius.
Memorial services were held at Koerner Heights Church.



Mennonite Weekly Review - February 13, 2006 - 84th Year, No. 7 - no obituaries


Mennonite Weekly Review - February 20, 2006 - 84th Year, No. 8 - p. 8

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Clara Kauffman, 97, of Hesston, Kan., died Feb. 8, 2006, at Newton Medical Center. She was born Jan. 28, 1909, to Charles and Anna (Dietrich) Fricke in Chicago.
She married Milo Kauffman on Oct. 3, 1931, in Chicago.
She was a homemaker and a member of Hesston Mennonite Church.
Survivors include a son, Milo F. Kauffman Jr. and his wife, Carolyn, of Newton; seven daughters, Marilyn Miller and her husband, Maurice, of Boulder, Colo., Joy Sears and her husband, Merle, of Tiskilwa, Ill., Evelyn Shellenberger and her husband, Wally, of Paoli, Ind., Gloria Yoder and her husband, Levi, of Lovington, Ill., Bonnie Sowers and her husband, Floyd, of Hesston, Phyllis Hysong and her husband, John, of Phoenix, Ariz., and Betty Kauffman Schmidt and her husband, Clinton, of Littleton, Colo.; a brother, Elmer Fricke of McMinnville, Ore.; a sister, Evelyn Millbern of Springfield, Mo.; 28 grandchildren and 36 great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Milo, in 1988; three sons, Glen, Charles and David; four brothers; a sister; and a grandson, Michael Miller.
Services will be held at Hesston Mennonite Church. Burial will be in Eastlawn Cemetery.


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Valera Baker, 94, of Albany, Ore., died Feb. 1, 2006, at Mennonite Village Nursing Home. She was born Jan. 30, 1912, to Harley and Katie (Widmer) Burck, longtime residents of Linn County.
She married Robert Baker on Aug. 10, 1933, and they celebrated 64 years of marriage.
They moved to Goshen, Ind., in 1963 to serve the church through Mennonite Mutual Aid while she worked at Goshen College and Greencroft Retirement Center. In 1974, they retired and moved to California, where they traveled as MMA representatives. They moved to Mennonite Village in Albany in 1976, where they continued to serve in health care.
Survivors include three daughters, Marilyn Lehman and her husband, Louie, of Roseburg, Sharon Swartzendruber and her husband, Ed, of Morton, Ill., and Roberta Christner and her husband, Don, of Roseburg; a son, Michael of Albany; three sisters, Grace Anderson of Albany, Lois Detwiler of Monroe, Wis., and Evelyn Fisher of Phoenix, Ariz.; a brother, Willis Burck of Albany; five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
Funeral services were held at Lebanon Mennonite Church. Burial was in Twin Oaks Memorial Gardens & Mausoleum in Albany.



Mennonite Weekly Review - February 27, 2006 - 84th Year, No. 9 - p. 12

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Frederick Paul Schmidt, 58, of Newton, Kan., died Feb. 12, 2006, after a four-year battle with cancer. He was born Nov. 15, 1947, to Rudy and Luella (Funk) Schmidt in Goessel.
He married Jo-Ann Enns of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., on Nov. 30, 1968, in Fort Wayne, Ind. They met during a Mennonite Voluntary Service term in Fort Wayne, and lived in both Kansas and Ontario.
He was an electrician, dairy farmer, nursing home administrator, construction worker, social worker and group home house parent at different times. He worked hard and enjoyed his work, due in large part to the people with whom he associated. He had an honest and easy-going approach to life, with a sense of humor that he maintained to the end. He loved his family, including his extended family and circles of friends. He was a member of Tabor Mennonite Church of rural Goessel.
Survivors include his wife, Jo-Ann; two sons, Jeffrey Schmidt of Newton and Michael Schmidt and his wife, Christina Reimer, of Toronto, Ont.; a daughter, Rachel Schmidt and her husband, James Cressman, of Toronto; his father, Rudy Schmidt, and his wife, Nola, of Goessel; a brother, Jim Schmidt of Goessel; a stepbrother, Jerry Kremer of Seward, Neb.; two sisters, Kathy Schmidt of Goessel and Mary Ulsaker of McPherson; parents-in-law John and LaVina Enns of Parkhill, Ont.; and two grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his mother, Luella Schmidt.
Services were held at Tabor Mennonite Church.
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George M. Kuttab, 83, of Wyncote, Pa., died Jan. 24, 2006. He was born on April 23, 1922, in Jerusalem, Palestine.    
He married Frocina Ibrahim Nesheiwat from Jordan on Sept. 7, 1951.  
He began his career in ministry as pastor of the Nazareth Church in Zarka, Jordan, in 1948. In 1953 he and his wife moved to Palestine, where he was pastor of the Church of God in both Jerusalem and Bethlehem. In 1969 he came to the United States and worked a variety of jobs but never lost his calling to preach. In 1981 he returned to Palestine to teach at Hope Secondary School and Bethlehem Bible College. He was asked to serve with the Nazarene Church in Jerusalem, translating for a missionary and doing church planting in remote villages. In 1988, they returned to the United States and moved to Pennsylvania. There he worked in West Chester and then with Lima Mennonite Church in Ohio. He served there until he started Salam Mennonite Church as an Arabic Home Church in Wyncote. He spoke in numerous churches, including Salam Arabic Lutheran Church in Brooklyn, Ambler Mennonite Church and both Chinese Mennonite churches in Philadelphia.  
One of his passions was traveling and sharing his love of nature with others. He took groups of pilgrims to the Holy Land and was a great tour guide. He wrote his autobiography and a booklet on names in the Bible and their meanings. He translated religious books into Arabic. He was an awesome storyteller, telling how God sustained him and his family through World War II and the Six-Day War. 
Survivors include his wife, Frocina; seven children, Jonathan and his wife, Beth, and Daoud and his wife, Salam, all of Amman, Jordan, Lydia Brenneman and her husband, Brice, of St. Marys, Ohio, Samuel and his wife, Jehan, of Wyncote, Phoebe Wurst and her husband, Roch, of Elkins Park, Grace El-Yateem and her husband, Khader, and Daniel and his wife, Rania, all of Brooklyn, N.Y.; a sister, Huda, of Kansas; and 24 grandchildren.
Services were held at Calvary Assembly of God Church in Wyncote. Burial was in Ivy Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.

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Samuel Lee Hershberger, 95, of Glendale, Ariz., died Jan. 26, 2006. He was born Feb. 7, 1910, to Ephraim D. and Dora Kempf Hershberger near Kalona, Iowa.
He married Marie Yoder on June 20, 1935.
He graduated from Sharon High School in 1928 and attended Goshen (Ind.) College for one year. He enjoyed singing and was a member of the Goshen College men’s and mixed chorus groups.
He taught seven years in Johnson County, Iowa, rural schools and was employed for 30 years by the Iowa City Post Office as a clerk and carrier. He then spent six years doing promotional work for Goshen Biblical Seminary. In 1977, he and his wife, Marie, moved to Glendale, where they spent their retirement years.
Survivors include a son, Donald of Santa Cruz, Calif.; a sister, Edna Hostetler of Kalona; four grandsons and three great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Marie; a son, David; his twin brother Daniel; brothers Guy, Jay and Ralph Hershberger; and sisters Cora Brenneman, Mary Brenneman and Barbara Hershberger.

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