Nightingale, Abraham Henry (1889-1980)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 25 Sep 1980 p. 11

Birth date: 1889 Oct 4

text of obituary:

ABRAHAM HENRY NIGHTINGALE

Abraham Henry Nightingale, son of Henry B. and Maria Ratzlaff Nightingale, was born Oct. 4, 1889 on a farm near Galva, Kan. He died Aug. 20, 1980.

He was baptized on June 8, 1910 and became a lifelong member of the Mennonite Church. He was married on Feb. 11, 1912 to Lydia Unruh in the Immanuel (sic) Mennonite Church -- a Christian union of love and devotion for over 68 years.

Their first six years were spent in California on a 10-acre orange grove ranch. They then moved back to Kansas and engaged in farming in the Moundridge and Whitewater communities.

In 1953 he retired from farming and moved to town, where he did construction work for five years and custodial work in the Halstead Hospital and Bethel Hospital in Newton as long as health permitted. The last four and one-half years he lived at Wheatstate Manor at Whitewater.

He was a devoted father and much concerned regarding the spiritual welfare of his children.

Surviving are his widow, Lydia, of the Wheatstate Manor; children, Rosalind Dester of Towanda, Dorine Baker of Wichita, Verbie June Barbeau of Wichita, Marilyn Smith of Newton, Natalie Wuthrich of Whitewater, Rowbina Bender of Denver, Colo., Warren of Chicago, Ill., and Lee of Wichita; three sisters and one brother, Minnie Unruh of Moundridge, Adeline Becker of Moundridge, Alverta Schmidt of Newton and Urpha Nightingale of Atwater, Calif.

He was preceded in death by a daughter, Aldea; a son, Arvid; a son-in-law, Allen Baker; and two grandsons.