Hershey, Mae Elizabeth Hertzler (1877-1974)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1974 Mar 7 p. 6

Birth date: 1877 Dec 22

text of obituary:

Death Claims Pioneer Missionary to Argentina, Age 96

Goshen, Ind. — A memorial service was held at the College Mennonite Church here Sunday afternoon, Feb. 24, for Mrs. T. K. (Mae) Hershey, 96, a pioneer missionary of the Mennonite Church in Argentina.

Mrs. Hershey died Feb. 22 in Chicago at the home of her son-in-law and daughter, Rev. and Mrs. William Hallman. A service was also held Sunday afternoon in Chicago, after which the body was taken to the Zion Mennonite Church at Birdsboro, Pa. for burial in the Hershey Cemetery.

Mrs. Hershey, the former Mae Hertzler, married T. K. Hershey at Concord, Tenn. in 1904. They left to pioneer on the Argentina mission field in 1917 and served there over a period of 30 years. After their return form Argentina, bishop and Mrs. Hershey resided in Goshen for about 20 years.

Surviving in addition to Mrs. Hallman are a son, Rev. Lester T. Hershey of Aibonito, Puerto Rico; six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren; a sister, Mrs. Lewis Powell of Wellman, Ia..; and a brother, Milford Hertzler of Morgantown, Pa.

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Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1974 Mar 14 p. 8

text of obituary:

. . .

HONEY BROOK, PA. February 28, 1974

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The funeral of Mae Hertzler was held on Feb. 26 at the Hershey Mennonite Church. Mrs. Hershey died Feb. 22 in Chicago at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Wm. Hallman. Those from this community who attended were Milford Hertzler, her youngest brother, Mr. and Mrs. Truman Hertzler and son Paul, Mr. and Mrs. C. J. Kurtz, Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Kurtz and Kathryn Mast. Mrs. Hershey and her husband spent 31 years in Argentina as missionaries. Her life of 96 years had been very influential, marked by much prayer, the writing of many letters and being a friend to all. She lived in this community a few years after retirement, while her husband was pastor at Zion Mennonite church near Beckersville. — Mrs. John M. Mast.

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Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1974 Apr 4 p. 11

text of obituary:

MAE ELIZABETH HERSHEY

Mae Elizabeth (Hertzler) Hershey was born at Concord, Tenn. on Dec. 22, 1877, and died in Chicago, Ill. on Feb. 22, 1974, aged 96 years. She was the first daughter of Levi B. and Catherine Stoltzfus Hertzler.

She accepted Christ as Saviour and was baptized at the age of 17.

She attended public school and high school, and also junior college at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. She taught in the public schools of the area for five years before her marriage to Tobias Kreider Hershey on Dec. 27, 1904 at Concord, Tenn.

They began farming near Gap, Pa. but the call to mission work was so strong that they soon began preparing at Goshen College for full-time missionary service. They were missionaries for three years at Youngstown, Ohio, and in 1917 along with Bro. and Sister J. W. Shank initiated the work of the Mennonite Church in Argentina. Together for 31 years they loved, suffered and rejoiced with their Argentine brethren, at the end of which time they spent a year helping in the work in Puerto Rico.

She is survived by a daughter, Beatrice, Mrs. Wm. E. Hallman, recently retired from Argentina, with whom she lived in Chicago at the time of her death; a son, Lester Tobias Hershey, radio minister and pastor in Puerto Rico; a sister, Ida, Mrs. L. J. Powell, Wellman, Iowa, and a brother, Milford Hertzler of Morgantown, Pa.; six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Three brothers, Eugene, Truman and Melvin, preceded her in death.

One of the outstanding memories for those who knew Sister Mae was her love for and interest in people, especially children. She began the first kindergarten in the area where they lived in Argentina and was an ardent and effective promoter of Sunday schools and women's programs. — Rev. Wm. E. Hallman.