Guengerich, Willard (1910-2007)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2007 Mar 12 p. 12

Birth date: 1910 Jun 23

text of obituary:

WILLARD GUENGERICH

Willard Eldon Guengerich, 96, died Feb. 11, 2007, at Parker Adventist Hospital in Parker, Colo. He was born June 23, 1910, to Joel and Magdelena (Yoder) Guengerich in Plainview, Texas.

He didn’t start his formal education past eighth grade until after he was 21 years old. He graduated from Hesston (Kan.) Academy in 1936 and received his associates degree from Hesston College in 1938. He met his future wife, Verna Linda Enns, at Hesston when he was a student in one of the bookkeeping classes she taught. They were married on Sept. 1, 1938, near Cheraw.

After the wedding, the couple lived in Hesston for two more years while she continued teaching at Hesston Academy and College and he worked as a day laborer. Then they moved to Colorado in 1940, living in Glenwood Springs from 1955 to 2000. He was part of the construction crew that built First Mennonite Church in Denver and the Miller Hall residence for nurses in training at LaJunta Mennonite School of Nursing. Later he was part of the volunteer crew from the church who built Glenwood Mennonite Church, where he served as treasurer for many years. He retired from the work force in 1974 after 13 years as maintenance engineer at Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs.

He was a lifelong New York Yankee fan.

Survivors include a son, Vernard E. Guengerich and his wife, Florence, of Goshen, Ind; two daughters, Elaine Kauffman and her husband, Richard, of Aurora, and Joelene Johnson and her husband, Doug, of Kamuela, Hawaii; two brothers, Harold of Denver and Glenn of Wellman, Iowa; five grandsons; a granddaughter; and two great-grandsons.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Verna, on Feb. 3, 2004; a daughter, Genelle Eileen Guengerich, on Nov. 8, 1970; two brothers, Albert and Earl Guengerich; and a sister, Edna Stoltzfus.

Memorial services were held at Glenwood Mennonite Church and Peace Mennonite Church in Aurora.