Neufeld, Abraham D. (1867-1958)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1958 Jan 23 p. 8

Birth date: 1867 Jan 18

text of obituary:

ABRAHAM D. NEUFELD

Abraham D. Neufeld was born to Abraham A. and Agatha Reimer Neufeld on Jan. 18, 1867, in south Russia, near the river Kuban in the village of Alexanderfeld.

In 1876 he with his parents emigrated to the United States and settled in Woodson County, Kansas. There his mother preceded them all in death, and was buried on their farm. Father, though very young, hired out as a shepherd boy to several neighbors for $3.00 a month.

In his fourteenth year, his father remarried. He educated himself by reading the Bible and later whatever books his children brought home from school.

Even though father was converted as a boy, he never realized the need for baptism until he was 19 years of age. At that time, together with his parents, he became a member of the Adventist church through baptism.

He entered into matrimony with our mother, Anna Knaak, on Oct. 29, 1890. Mother had become a Christian in her childhood and sought to uphold the Christian faith in the home. Later father humbled himself under the hand of God and they were both received into the fellowship of the Mennonite Brethren Church of Hillsboro, Kansas.

In 1894, after the Cherokee Strip was opened for homesteading, our parents with their two children moved there and bought a claim near what today is Fairview, Okla. On this farm our parents lived for 16 years and shared many pioneer hardships and joys. During that period one other daughter and three more sons were born to them.

In 1911, our father traded the Oklahoma wheat land for a dairy farm seven miles south of Reedley, Calif. where the family moved the same year. After four years of happy family life on this place, father suddenly became sick and after many months underwent a serious operation. Land deals, booms, and then the depression after World War I, caused our parents to move to Reedley proper.

Our dear mother preceded him in death on Feb. 18, of 1930. On August 22, 1937, the Lord gave him another help-mate in Mrs. Tina Duerksen of Hillsboro, Kansas. This union brought together two families of 16 children with in-laws and many grandchildren. Father and mother lived together for 10 happy years, but on July 13, 1947, our father for the second time was made a widower.

He bore his sorrows nobly. He knew his Lord and his Bible and these were his mainstay. In his faith he has walked an exemplary road before his children. Father loved the work of the church and had a heart for missions.

For several years he lived with the children, making his permanent home with Martha. He was able to take care of himself until but a few months before his passing. At the age of 83 years he still contracted a vineyard which he pruned by himself.

In 1953 he took up residence in the Home for the Aged in Reedley, where he lived contentedly with some short intermissions till Oct. 29, 1957,when he fell and broke his right hip. He was then taken to th Tulare County Hospital and underwent an operation. Shortly after Chistmas [sic] he became worse and on Jan. 8, 1958, just 10 days before his 91st birthday, he slipped away quietly to be with his Lord whom he loved.

He leaves to mourn his passing, six children: Art and Elizabeth Neufeld of Dinuba, Mrs. Martha Voth, Lydia and Pete Regier of Reedley, Elmer and Della Neufeld, Harry and Sarah Neufeld of Fresno, and Clarence and Zena Neufeld of Berkeley; 14 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild; two brothers, John and Emanuel; three sisters, Mrs. Mary Gaede, Mrs. Minnie Ortner, and Mrs. Lizzy Leppke; from his second marriage, ten step-children who were as dear to him as his own, and a host of grandchildren and great-grandchildren as well as many nieces and nephews from both marriages to whom he was always a favorite uncle. Four brothers and four sisters preceded him in death.

Funeral services were conducted in the Reedley M. B. Church on Jan. 11, with Rev. Dan Friesen and Rev. H. R. Wiens officiating.