Ediger, Tina Block (1931-2014)

Mennonite World Review obituary: 2014 Oct 27 p. 19

Birth date: 1931 Apr 25, Manitoba
Date of Death: 2014 October 16, Kansas

Text of obituary:

Tina Block Ediger

Tina Block Ediger, 83, of North Newton, Kan., died Oct. 16, 2014. She was born April 25, 1931 to Julius H. and Katharina (Penner) Block near Steinbach, Man.

She was baptized in 1951. She attended Steinbach Collegiate High School and Red River Secretarial College in Winnipeg, and then worked as a secretary in Manitoba. From 1955 to 1981, she worked at the General Conference Mennonite Church Board of Missions in Newton. She organized furlough visits for the U.S. by many missionaries and was known as "Aunt Tina" to the missionary kids. She spent two years in India as the secretary-bookkeeper at Union Biblical Seminary. She is the author of Window to the World, which describes 100 years of overseas missions of the General Conference Mennonite Church. While she worked full time for the mission board, she was a part-time student and completed a bachelor's degree in English at Bethel College in North Newton. From 1986 to 1996 she worked in the development offices at Prairie View Mental Health Center in Newton. In 2001 she volunteered to be a Low-German interpreter for the Kansas Department of Health and Human Welfare in order to provide services to Old Colony Mennonites who had immigrated from Mexico to Kansas. She traveled to 38 countries, making friends around the world. She developed close friendships with Bethel College students from China, Japan and India. She was a longtime member of Bethel College Mennonite Church.

In 1975, she married Elmer Ediger of North Newton.

Survivors include three children, Elaine Burdette and her husband, Bob, of Mulvane, Carol Peters and her husband, Ron, of North Newton, and Mark Ediger and his wife, Jocelyn Milner, of Madison, Wis.; three brothers, William Block of Winnipeg, Jim Block of Morden, Man., and Peter Block of Steinbach, Man.; a sister, Martha Epp of Brantford, Ont.; six grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Elmer Ediger; two brothers, Jacob and Henry Block; and a sister, Anna Isaak.

Memorial services were held Oct. 25 at Bethel College Mennonite Church of North Newton.

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Mennonite World Review obituary: 2014 Nov 10 p. 9

Text of obituary:

Secretary wrote GC mission legacy

In centennial history, Ediger preserved the stories of many workers she knew

By Wil LaVeist

Mennonite Mission Network

Tina Block Ediger, a longtime worker with the General Conference Mennonite Church Commission on Overseas Mission and writer of the agency's centennial book, died Oct. 16. She was 82.

As the 100th anniversary of COM approached, Ediger, "the face" of the agency to churches in the U.S. and Canada, was the obvious person to produce a book to mark the occasion. That book, Window to the World: Extraordinary Stories from a Century of Overseas Mission 1900-2000, is now a lasting testament of her significant contribution to God's mission.

Born April 25, 1931, near Steinbach, Man., Ediger worked for COM, a predecessor agency of Mennonite Mission Network, in Newton, Kan., from 1955 to 1981. She organized furlough visits for missionaries returning to Canada and the U.S.

While working full-time, she also completed a degree in English at Bethel College in North Newton. Because of her loving personality and concern for people, she was known as "Aunt Tina" by many missionary children. Ediger traveled to 38 countries and often gave speeches in addition to writing, which included research on female mission workers.

For two years, Ediger served as the secretary-bookkeeper at Union Biblical Seminary in Yeotmal, India.

She worked 11 years as secretary of communications for COM. Jeannie Zehr, the agency's secretary of communications at the time, hired Ediger to write Window to the World, which was published in 1999.

"Tina just seemed like the logical person because she knew so many of the people and the stories," Zehr said. "We're very proud of what she accomplished."

The book chronicles service beginning in 1900, when the first mission workers arrived in Mumbai, India. A century later, more than 900 mission workers had served with the COM in 30 countries.

In the introduction, Ediger quoted a South African proverb to illustrate the importance of the book and its documentation of God's work through missions: "If you inherit land, you have to farm it. If you inherit a story, you have to tell it."

"Tina gave of herself unstintingly to strengthen ministries that would advance God's healing and hope globally," wrote MMN executive director Stanley Green in a letter to the family. "It seems that for Tina this was a vocation, a calling, to share the good news of the gospel."

She is survived by three children: Elaine Burdette of Mulvane, Kan., Carol Peters of North Newton and Mark Ediger of Madison, Wis.; six grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; brothers William Block of Winnipeg, Man., Jim Block of Morden, Man., and Peter Block of Steinbach, Man.; and a sister, Martha Epp of Brantford, Ont.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Elmer Ediger; brothers Jacob and Henry Block; and a sister, Anna Isaak.

Memorial services were held Oct. 25 at Bethel College Mennonite Church in North Newton, where she attended.

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From the Canadian Mennonite (https://canadianmennonite.org/articles/i-can-still-be-heard):

The woman known to countless Mennonite church missionary kids from Canada and the U.S. as “Aunt Tina” died on Oct. 16 at the age of 83.

“Tina had a special place in her heart for single women missionaries and missionary children. She often entertained them in her home when they came to Newton [Kan.] for debriefing,” wrote Howard Habegger, former executive secretary of the Commission on Overseas Mission (COM) of the General Conference (GC) Mennonite Church, for which Block Ediger worked for more than a quarter-century.

Block Ediger served with COM from 1955-81. She was there when Habegger joined the staff in 1970 as executive secretary. “It was Tina who welcomed me and provided the information and inspiration I very much needed,” he said in his tribute to her. “She had a unique grasp of the total mission program and its personnel overseas. Tina possessed a deep personal passion for GC involvement in world missions, first serving in India and then many years on the COM staff.”

Block Ediger was born April 25, 1931, in Steinbach, Man., to Julius H. and Katherina Block, the sixth of eight children. She was baptized in 1951. According to her brother Bill, she put her secretarial training to work at several different jobs in Manitoba, but found the work unfulfilling.

“I prayed and God led me to accept a job in Newton, Kan., as a secretary for [the] Commission on Overseas Mission, a two-year job that lasted 26 years,” she wrote in her life story.

During these years, she completed her bachelor of arts degree at Bethel (Kan.) College and served for two years as the secretary-bookkeeper at the Union Biblical Seminary in Yeotmal, India.

In 1975, she married Elmer Ediger. “One great joy of marrying Elmer was gaining a family,” she wrote. Elmer died unexpectedly in 1983, three weeks before she started chemotherapy for her lymphoma.

“Tina believed it was necessary to put a ‘face’ on overseas mission,” wrote Habegger. “Therefore, she developed an extensive itineration program for furloughing missionaries, COM staff and commission members. She would say, ‘We need to get a face-to-face story to our churches on what God is doing through the life of our mission family overseas.’ It is safe to say that during Tina’s tenure as a COM staff person she placed mission partners in approximately 90 percent of General Conference churches in the U.S. and Canada. This was an immense task in communicating with pastors, setting up travel arrangements and placing missionaries as speakers in local churches.”

Block Ediger envisioned and then produced the first Overseas Mission Directory, a compilation of information on each country where missionaries were serving. This pictorial directory was “a monumental task,” wrote Habegger, “and was sent to every GC church and each of its members.”

he wrote in her life story. “One of my mottos is, ‘Now that I have shrunk to 4 feet 7 inches, I cannot be seen, but I can still be heard.’ ”

—Posted Nov. 6, 2014

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Newton Kansan obituary: 2014 Oct 18

Text of obituary:

Tina Block Ediger was born April 25, 1931, near Steinbach, Manitoba, to Julius H. and Katharina (Penner) Block. She was baptized in 1951 and died on Oct. 16, 2014.

She attended Steinbach Collegiate High School and Red River Secretarial College in Winnipeg, and then worked as a secretary in Manitoba. From 1955 to 1981, she worked at the General Conference Mennonite Church Board of Missions in Newton. During this time she organized furlough visits for the U.S. by many missionaries and was known as "Aunt Tina" to the missionary kids.

Tina spent two years in India as the secretary-bookkeeper at the Union Biblical Seminary in Yeotmal. She is the author of the book "Window to the World" which describes 100 years of overseas missions of the General Conference Mennonite Church.

While Tina worked full time for the Mission Board, she was a part-time student and completed a bachelor's degree in English at Bethel College. She often mentioned how grateful she was to Bethel for the scholarship that allowed her to finish her degree.

From 1986 to 1996, she worked in the Development offices at Prairie View Mental Health Center. In 2001 Tina volunteered to be a Low-German interpreter for the Kansas Dept. of Health and Human Welfare in order to provide services to the Old Colony Mennonites who had immigrated from Mexico to Kansas. In 2008 she moved into independent living at Kidron Bethel Retirement Community.

Throughout her life she was able to travel to 38 countries, making many friends around the world. She developed close friendships with a number of Bethel College students from China, Japan and India. Tina was a long time member of the Bethel College Mennonite Church. She enjoyed cooking, entertaining, reading, writing, giving speeches, gardening and serving high teas.

In 1975, Tina married Elmer Ediger of North Newton.

She is survived by three children: Elaine (Bob) Burdette of Mulvane, Carol (Ron) Peters of North Newton, and Mark (Jocelyn Milner) Ediger of Madison, Wisconsin; six grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren; brothers, William (Dolores) Block of Winnipeg, Jim (Helga) Block of Morden, Manitoba, Peter (Mary) Block of Steinbach, Manitoba; sister, Martha (Leonard) Epp of Brantford, Ontario; and many nieces, nephews and dozens of missionary kids who considered her Aunt Tina.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Elmer Ediger; brothers, Jacob and Henry Block; sister, Anna Isaak; sister-in-law, Betty Block; nephew, Terry Block; and grand-daughter-in-law, Jana Peters.

Memorial services will be held Saturday, Oct. 25, 2014, at 10 a.m. at the Bethel College Mennonite Church of North Newton. There will be no viewing or visitation.

Memorials have been established with Bethel College and Prairie View Mental Health Center.

Petersen Funeral Home

Published in The Kansan from Oct. 18 to Oct. 20, 2014

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MLA Personal Photos Collection

Biographical note: Steinbach, Manitoba
daughter of Julius H. and Katharina (Penner) Block
married Elmer M. Ediger 1975 (wife no. 2)
director of General Conference mission services 1971-1981
short term missionary in India (bookkeeper at Yeotmal seminary) 1961-?

Bethel alumni note:

Photo holdings: individual (at desk) ca. 1955 Newton, Ks.
individual -- ca. 1955
Individual -- 1968 individual (at desk) ca. 1970 Newton, Ks.
individual -- ca. early 1970s
Individual -- 1978
Individual -- 1980
individual -- ca. 1987
See Anna Elizabeth (Claassen) Linscheid for group photo

Sources: Grandma Online profile 231381