Wiebe, William (1877-1953)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1953 Dec 3 p. 9

Birth date: 1877 Aug 22

text of obituary:

WILLIAM WIEBE

William Wiebe was born near Samara, Russia, August 22, 1877. In 1894 he came to America with his father and sisters to settle in Beatrice, Nebr. There his father Gerhard Wiebe, a business man and merchant in the Russian community from which they came, established a drygoods and ready-to-wear store. Upon the father’s retirement, William Wiebe succeeded him in this store.

This business he owned and operated in a manner of absolute honor, honesty and integrity, bringing to the business world a strict interpretation of the religious faith which was the beacon of his life.

On March 22, 1905, he married Lizzie K. Hauck of Philadelphia, Pa., and together they made their home in Beatrice, Nebr., where their six children were born. Throughout these years he was a faithful member and worker in the Second Mennonite church of Beatrice. After his retirement, he and his surviving wife moved to Bluffton, Ohio in 1941 to be nearer their children, and transferred membership to the First Mennonite church of Bluffton. After many years of failing health and his final year in the Bluffton Community hospital, he passed to his reward on Sept. 15, 1953. He was laid to rest in the Bluffton cemetery.

In addition to his wife, Lizzie, he is survived by three sons, Harold Wiebe, of San Diego, Cal., Gerhart D. Wiebe of Mamaroneck, New York, and Albert H. Wiebe of West Covina, Calif.; three daughters, Edna (Mrs. John) Boehr, of Bluffton, Ohio, Lila Wiebe of Lima, Ohio, and Dorothy (Mrs. James I.) Detweiler of Burbank, Calif.; and four sisters, Sister Magdalena Wiebe of ) Boehr of Beatrice, Nebr., and Justina (Mrs. P. D.) Schultz of Wichita, Kans.