Hiebert, Clarence (1927-2005)

Newton Kansan obituary: 2005 Nov 15 p. 2

Birth date: 1927 Jul 12

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2005 Nov 21 p. 3

text of obituary:

Retired MB professor, historian dies at 78
Hiebert set standard for excellence in teaching at Tabor

By Robert Rhodes

Mennonite Weekly Review

HILLSBORO, Kan. — Clarence R. Hiebert, 78, a Mennonite Brethren historian and religious studies professor who was known as much for his friendship and love of music as for his academic work, died of cancer Nov. 14.

Hiebert, who taught religious studies and history at Tabor College from 1962-89, also was an authority on Russia and the former Soviet Union who led overseas trips for students and Tabor alumni.

"He was always trying to broaden the outlook of students to the bigger world," said Katie Funk Wiebe of Wichita, who taught English at Tabor from 1966-90.

Hiebert returned from retirement in 1994 to serve as Tabor's interim president for a year.

Wiebe remembered Hiebert for "his intense interest in the lives of other people and in supporting them, helping to give them direction and simply in loving them."

Hiebert's love for teaching was honored by Tabor in 1990 when the college named Hiebert Professor of the Century and established the annual Clarence Hiebert Excellence in Teaching Award. The same year, he was named professor emeritus.

Wiebe said Hiebert was an advocate of women students and faculty.

"He was the one who made room for people at the edges," Wiebe said. "He was always trying to open doors for others."

Pegy Goertzen, director of the Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies at Tabor, said Hiebert encouraged her.

"He saw such potential in people and particularly women," Goertzen said. "He always encouraged. he always planted wonderful seeds and then pushed them to grow."

Hiebert was born July 12, 1927, at Winnipeg, Man., the son of C. N. and Tina Harms Hiebert. He graduated from Tabor in 1949 and earned a master's degree from Phillips University at Enid, Okla., and a doctorate from Case Western Reserve University at Cleveland. Before joining the Tabor faculty, he was a psychiatric aide and pastor.

on Sept 1, 1950, he married Ferne Kornelson. They were members of Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church.

Hiebert's academic work ranged from the 1874 immigration of Mennonites from Ukraine — he compiled one of the first collections of ship manifests listing the early migrants — to the MB presence in Paraguay.

He was interested in hymns and musicology and helped organize a new MB hymnal, published in the 1990s.

Hiebert wrote on pacifism and other aspects of Anabaptist identity. His 1973 book, The Holdeman People, detailing the history of the conservative Church of God in Christ, Mennonite, was "probably the capstone of his research," Goertzen said.

In the early 1990s, Hiebert directed Latin American mission work for the MB Missions and Services board and led training sessions for pastors in Paraguay.

Survivors include his wife; two sons, Tim of Cheney and Bob of Charlotte, N.C.; two daughters, Beth Klassen of Moundridge and Sue Scheer of Hamilton, Ohio; a brother, Erwin of Boston; two sisters, Martha Richert of Bakersfield, Calif., and Nomi Dyck of Fresno, Calif., 13 grandchildren and a great-grandchild.

Services were held Nov. 17 at Trinity Mennonite Church in Hillsboro. Burial was at the Hillsboro MB Cemetery.