Harder, Geraldine Gross (1926-2003)

Newton Kansan obituary: 2003 Mar 7 p. 2; 2003 Mar 8 p. 2

Birth date: 1926 Mar 14

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2003 May 12 p. 8

text of obituary:

GERALDINE HARDER

Geraldine Gross Harder, 76, of Peabody, Kan., died March 6, 2003, at Legacy Park Nursing Home. She was born March 14, 1926, to Titus L. and Olive (Moyer) Gross in Doylestown, Pa.

She attended Doylestown public schools and was baptized at age 12 at Doylestown Mennonite Church. She was a 1948 graduate from Goshen (Ind.) College, obtaining a bachelor's degree in education.

For two years she taught in a one-room elementary school in Tinicum, Pa. She worked as a writer of children's materials at Mennonite Publishing House, Scottdale, Pa., from 1950 to 1952.

She married Milton J. Harder on June 29, 1952, and accompanied him to seminary in Goshen and Chicago before moving to Enkenbach and Kaiserslautern, Germany, for a five-year MCC assignment.

From 1959 to 1968, she lived a full life as a devoted mother, homemaker, writer and piano teacher in Newton, Kan. She accompanied her husband as he undertook pastorates of Mennonite churches in Seattle, Lansdale, Pa., Geneva, Neb., and Goessel, Kan., between the years 1968 and 1996. She was often a children's Sunday school teacher and worship service pianist.

She was known by many as a freelance writer, especially of children's literature. She published three books, Sunday school curriculum and more than 100 poems, dozens of articles, and songs in a wide range of Mennonite and other Christian periodicals.

For at least the last 25 years of her life, Geraldine and those around her lived with the increasingly severe and painful effects of a mental illness that gradually reduced her capacity to live a normal life. Her marriage ended in 1996.

Survivors include two sons, Robert of Hesston, Kan., and James of Bluffton, Ohio; a brother, Leonard Gross of Goshen; three sisters, Sylvia Bubalo of Goshen, Miriam Meyer of Rittman, Ohio, and Lois Leuz of Chengdu, China; and two grandchildren.

Memorial services were held at Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church of Goessel.