Voth, Helena Katherine (1882-1958)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1958 Dec 4 p. 8

Birth date: 1882 Jan 1

text of obituary:

HELENA KATHERINE VOTH

Helena Katherine Voth was born at Burrton, Kansas on Jan. 1, 1882, to Peter and Helena Baker Voth, who not many years before had come from the steppes of Southern Russia to the prairies of Kansas, seeking a place where they might enjoy freedom to worship God as they saw fit. On May 26, 1901, Miss Voth confessed her faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and was received into the First Mennonite Church by the rite of baptism administered by Elder Jacob Toevs.

Thirty-four years ago she moved to Wichita, where she worked as a dress-maker. She and two of her sisters helped to organize the Mennonite Church in Wichita, which was officially organized in November 1932 with 17 charter members, four of those charter members being Helen, her two sisters, and her brother-in-law, J. B. Muller. Helen is the third of those 17 charter members to be called home by death.

Helen's life makes us think of another dress-maker by the name of Tabitha or Dorcas, not only because they were both dress-makers, but because both gave their life in service to others. Dorcas served the poor widows in Joppa, and Helen and her sisters served others also. Much clothing for war-sufferer's relief was repaired in their home. Then too, a large portion of Helen's time and effort has been given in service for the sick, caring for an aged mother, caring many years for a bedfast brother, and sharing in the care of a bedfast brother-in-law.

Last Thursday, as the evening shadows fell, she slipped away quietly, as she had lived -- away to the "Beautiful Isle of Somewhere."

Surviving Miss Voth are three sisters, Anna who shared the home with Helen, Mrs. J. B. Muller, and Mrs. Elizabeth Turner of Lakewood, Colo., and one brother, James A. Voth of Kansas City, Mo. Two brothers and two sisters preceded her in death in infancy, and a brother Henry passed away in 1955.

The Mennonite obituary: 1958 Dec 16 p. 786