Martens, Benjamin P. (1917-2002)

Newton Kansan obituary: 2002 Oct 9 p. 2

Birth date: 1917 Sep 9

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2002 Oct 21 p. 16

text of obituary:

BENJAMIN P. MARTENS

Benjamin P. Martens, 85, of Hesston, Kan., died Oct. 7, 2002, at St. Francis Hospital in Wichita. He was born Sept. 9, 1917, to Peter and Maria (Karber) Martens on a farm four miles south of Fairview, Okla.

He grew up on the farm and completed his elementary education in a small one-room school called Green Valley District 122. He then had three years of Bible school in the Mennonite Brethren Bible School at Fairview.

He accepted Jesus as his Savior at the age of 10 and in 1934 was baptized and received into fellowship at the Mennonite Brethren church southeast of Fairview.

He married Rosey Harms on April 14, 1940, at the Mennonite Brethren church northeast of Enid.

After marriage they moved to a farm southwest of Fairview. After living near Fairview for four years, they moved to Colorado for one year, then returned to Fairview in 1945. In 1946 they moved to a farm northwest of Fairview. He farmed for 48 years, retiring in 1986. They remained in the Fairview area until moving to Kansas in September 2002 to be near their children.

He belonged to the Mennonite Brethren Church of Fairview, where he served as an usher, deacon and on the foods committee. He was also on the board of directors for Fairview Fellowship Home.

He was a loving husband for 62 years, as well as a loving father and grandfather.

Survivors include his wife, Rosey; a son, Lowell and his wife, Joyce, of Newton, Kan.; two daughters, Gaylene Seibel and her husband, Clyde, of Lawrenceville, Ga., and Gweneth Christensen and her husband, James, of Coffeyville, Kan.; a brother, Henry of Fairview; two sisters, Mary Esther Martens and Eva Neufeld, both of Fairview; eight grandchildren and a great-grandchild.

He was preceded in death by three brothers.

Funeral services were held at the Mennonite Brethren Church of Fairview. Burial was in North Mennonite Brethren Cemetery of Fairview.