Voth, Peter R. (1870-1962)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1962 May 17 p. 7

Birth date: 1870 Feb 25

text of obituary:

Pioneer Minister Was Early Graduate of Bethel College

The recent passing of Rev. Peter R. Voth at the Memorial Home for Aged, Moundridge, Kan., removed one of the pioneer ministers of the General Conference Mennonite Church.

One of the early graduates of Bethel College before the turn of the century, he was called into the ministry in his home congregation, the Alexanderwohl Church near Goessel. Later, while pioneering at Gotebo, Okla., he was ordained as elder in the Friedental [sic Friedensthal] Mennonite Church. From 1919 to 1933 he was pastor of the Buhler, Kan. Mennonite Church.

Funeral services for Rev. Voth were conducted April 30, with services at the Memorial Home in charge of Rev. Arnold Nickel and at the Bethel College Church, North Newton, in charge of Rev. Russell Mast.

A brief life history of Rev. Voth as submitted by his family follows.

The life concluded on April 27, 1962 spans more than 92 years. Our father, Peter R. Voth, was born Feb. 25, 1870, in Gnadental, Wollost Taurien, South Russia, and came to Kansas in the great Mennonite migration of 1874 with his parents, Cornelius and Helena Richert Voth. The youngest of eight brothers and sisters, he was baptized on the confession of his faith in Jesus Christ as his Savior on June 10, 1889, by Elder Jacob Buller and became a member of the Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church, Goessel.

Under the guidance of devout parents, teachers and ministers, he became interested in Sunday School work and teaching. After a few months of education in the home of Rev. Peter Balzer in Alexanderwohl and in the Halstead Preparatory Academy he entered Bethel College when it opened in 1893. The next year he taught public school in Hochfeld, and re-entered Bethel College in 1895, graduating in three years. at this time he was called into the Christian ministry by his home church.

Our father was united in holy matrimony with Anna Edna Dirks, daughter of Jacob B. and Helena Foth Dirks, on August 1, 1901. A daughter Edna Susie was born August 16, 1903. In autumn the young family, accompanied by Father and Mother Dirks, settled three miles south of Gotebo, Okla. On Sept. 20, 1904 infant Edna succumbed to multiple illnesses. Subsequently three sons were born in Oklahoma: Paul, Menno, and Rudolf.

Early in the century father was called as one of the three ministers in the Friedental [sic Friedensthal] Church in the Gotebo area, and was ordained as their Elder on Dec. 23, 1917. The rigors of farming, and a desire to seek greter educational opportunities for the sons furnished the impetus for the family's move from Oklahoma to Kansas in October 1919. Father had been called as the pastor and elder by the Buhler Mennonite Church, in which capacity he served devotedly for 14 years. Even in early youth father loved to work with children in Sunday school, vacation Bible school, public school Bible classes, and in the ministry. In the Buhler Mennonite Church alone, he baptized 140 applicants.

Our parents retired to make their home on the Bethel College campus in 1936 and affiliated with the Bethel College Mennonite Church on Sept. 3, 1937. They remained members of this church until called in death.

During his long life father always enjoyed the jewelry and watch repair business, an avocation which he continued into his 90th year.

Father and mother entered the Moundridge Memorial Home for the Aged in 1959, where mother passed on to her heavenly reward following a brief illness. In his loneliness father was sustained by the understanding care and devotion of Mr. and Mrs. E. E. Flickner, and staff and residents of the Home.

The departed leaves to mourn his death his three sons and their families: Paul D., his wife Selma and daughter Pamela of Chicago, Ill., and daughter Mrs. Felice Goering of Moundridge; Menno D., his wife Bertha and daughter Carol of Minneapolis, Minn.; and Rudolf D., his wife Evelyn, son Gregory and daughter Marguerite of Tacoma, Wash.

Father's earthly life ended peacefully at the Memorial Home for the Aged — a fitting close to a dedicated and devoted life of service.