Unruh, Maria Voth (1897-1973)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1973 Nov 22 p. 8

Birth date: 1897 Jan 30

text of obituary:

Mrs. Maria V. Unruh, 76, of Halstead died Saturday at the Halstead Hospital after a long illness. She was a member of the Halstead First Mennonite Church, where the funeral was conducted Tuesday afternoon by Rev. Robert Suderman. Mrs. Unruh was a native of Marion County and married Heinrich B. Unruh at Goessel in 1920. They moved to Halstead in 1934, and he died in 1970. Surviving in the immediate family are a son, Otis, of Newton; four daughters, Mrs. Hunora Schmidt and Mrs. Anetta Howard, both of Hutchinson, Mrs. Rosetta Auernheimer of Halstead, and Mrs. Velma Klassen of Hillsboro; 20 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1973 Dec 13 p. 11

text of obituary:

MARIA VOTH UNRUH

Maria Voth Unruh, daughter of Johann and Anna Wolf Voth, was born Jan. 30, 1897, in the Goessel community, Marion County, Kansas. She died in the Halstead Hospital on Nov. 17, 1973, at the age of 76.

She spent her early years on a farm southwest of Goessel. She attended the Emmanthal School. She was baptized and taken into the Alexanderwohl Church on May 13, 1917 by Rev. P. H. Unruh.

Mother was the youngest child of her father’s four marriages. her father passed away in 1904. She continued to live on the farm until her brother Henry, was married in 1913 and then she and her mother moved to Goessel where mother worked as a telephone operator.

On June 27, 1915, her mother married Johann P. Flaming, who had two sons and five daughters, and they moved to his farm east of Goessel. Her mother died in 1934 and her step-father in 1935.

She was married on June16, 1920 to Heinrich B. Unruh in the Alexanderwohl Church by Rev. P. H. Richert. this union was blessed with six children, one son and five daughters. The youngest daughter died in infancy. Father and mother celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in June 1970. Father passed away on Nov. 8, 1970.

The family moved to a small farm south of Halstead in 1934 after living on farms near Newton, Burns, Elging, McLains, and Hutchinson. In the fall of 1937 they moved to the present home in Halstead, where she resided until the time of her death. they transferred their membership to the First Mennonite Church of Halstead in April 1938.

For 22 years father and mother served as custodians of the First Mennonite Church, Halstead. She was a faithful member of the Homebuilders Sunday School Class, the Quilters, and the Dorcas Mission Society which later became the Women’s Mission Society.

Mother was admitted to the Halstead Hospital in oct. 19 and consented to surgery on Oct. 23, when an advanced cancer of the gall bladder and liver was found. She remained in the hospital until her death on Nov. 17, 1973.

She leaves to mourn her passing one son, Otis and wife Vera, Newton; four daughters and their husbands, Hunora and Harvey Schmidt of Hutchinson, Rosetta and Roy Auernheimer of Halstead, Velma and Arnold Klassen of Hillsboro, and Annetta and Marvin Howard, Hutchinson; 20 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren; and two step-sisters, Mrs. Mary Banman of Newton and Mrs. Katie Gaeddert of Buhler.

Funeral services were held on Nov. 20, 1973, in the Kaufman Funeral Chapel, Halstead. Interment was in the Halstead Cemetery. Rev. Robert D. Suderman and Rev. Roland R. Goering officiated.