Johns, Otis N. (1889-1975)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1975 May 15 p. 5

Birth date: 1889 Jun 1

text of obituary:

Retired Bishop, Youth Leader Dies

It has been learned here that Otis N. Johns, retired bishop and pastor emeritus of the Beech Mennonite Church at Louisville, Ohio, died April 23 at the Hartville manor Nursing Home, Hartville, Ohio.

Funeral services were conducted at the Beech church on Saturday, April 26.

Bishop Johns served the Canton (Ohio) Mennonite Mission Church from 1923 to 1925, after which he became pastor and bishop of the Beech congregation and continued there until his retirement. He also had bishop oversight of other area congregations.

Bishop Johns was a leader in youth work and sponsored the first Mennonite youth people's institute in Ohio. He was long active in the Ohio and Eastern Conference and the (Old) Mennonite General Conference, serving as assistant moderator of the General Conference in 1923-33 and as a member of several of its committees on youth work. He was also secretary of the Mennonite Publication Board for some years.

A native of the Goshen, Ind. area, he attended the academy at Goshen College as well as the college. He married Margaret Rickert at Columbiana, Ohio in 1910. She survives with one son, three daughters, 12 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

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Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1975 Jun 5 p. 11

text of obituary:

OTIS N. JOHNS

Rev. Otis N. Johns, pastor emeritus of the Beech Mennonite Church, Louisville, Ohio, died April 23 at the Hartville Manor Nursing Home, Hartville, Ohio.

Rev. Johns, 85, retired in 1960 from his duties as pastor and bishop of the Beech Church which he had served since 1926.

On April 8, 1923, he was ordained in the First Mennonite Church in Canton, Ohio and was subsequently ordained bishop in the same church in 1925. He remained at the Canton church until taking the pastorate at the Louisville church.

Rev. Johns was active on all levels of the Mennonite Church in the Ohio and Eastern Conference. He was assistant moderator of the conference in 1925 and secretary of the conference from 1926 - 1949. He also served as secretary of the Mennonite Publication Board from 1927 - 49. In 1932 and 1933 he was assistant moderator of the General Conference and from 1927 - 38 he served on the General Conference's committee for Young People's Problems.

A son of Daniel and Nancy Yoder Johns, he was born near Goshen, Ind. on June 1, 1889 and moved to the Canton - Louisville area in 1923.

He and his wife, Margaret Richert Johns, celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary in December 1974. In addition to Mrs. Johns, he is survived by three daughters, Mrs. Rollin (Gladys) Krabill and Mrs. Arthur (Velma) Miller, both of Louisville, and Mrs. Glen (Lois) Yoder of Hartville; a son, David J. of Goshen, Ind.; 12 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by a daughter, Esther, in 1916.

Services were held April 26 at the Beech Mennonite Church with Rev. Wayne North officiating. Burial followed in the church cemetery.