Graber, Raymond P. (1915-2004)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2004 Sep 6 p. 8

Birth date: 1915 Jan 6

text of obituary:

RAYMOND P. GRABER

Raymond P. Graber, 89, of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, died Aug. 21, 2004. He was born Jan. 6, 1915, to Joseph and Barbara A. (Rich) Graber southwest of Wayland.

He attended Douglas school and a short-term winter Bible school at Goshen (Ind.) College.

He married Doris M. Roth on Sept. 22, 1940, at Sugar Creek Mennonite Church of rural Wayland.

He was a charter member of Pleasant View Mennonite Church of Mount Pleasant and a member of Gideon's International for more than 40 years. He was a lifelong farmer and worked construction and factory work in Hesston, Kan., from 1961 through 1969. Returning to the Mount Pleasant area, he worked at Heatilator till 1978, then helped on the farm northwest of Mount Pleasant.

Survivors include children Marilyn Leichty and her husband, Norman, and Gary Graber and his wife, Gloria, both of Mount Pleasant, and Russell Graber and his wife, Barbara, of Newton, Kan., and special “son” Wouter P. Martens and his wife, Marianne, of Venhuizen, the Netherlands; five sisters, Rachel Wyse and Bernice Roth, both of Wayland, Lois Swartzendruber of Wellman, Sara Lu Fredrick of Eugene, Ore., and Beulah Mae Swartzendruber of Wayland; and five grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Doris, in October 1988; a sister, Welma Nelson; and three brothers, Clarence, Willis and Virgil.

Funeral services were held at Pleasant View Mennonite Church. Burial was in Sugar Creek Mennonite Cemetery of rural Wayland.