Byers, Noah E. (1873-1962)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1962 Jun 21 p. 12

Birth date: 1873 July 26

text of obituary:

Pioneer Educator, Long-Time Dean Of Bluffton College Dies

Decatur, Ga. — Noah E. Byers, 88, a pioneer in Mennonite higher education and long-time dean of Bluffton College, Bluffton, Ohio, died at his home here early Friday morning, June 15. He had resided at Decatur since 1951.

The body was sent to Bluffton where memorial services were arranged for 1 p.m. Monday at the First Mennonite Church, with Rev. Jacob Friesen, the pastor, and Rev. A. E. Kreider of Goshen, Ind. officiating. Burial was to be made in Maple Grove Cemetery near Bluffton.

Born at Sterling, Ill. on July 26, 1873, Mr. Byers graduated from high school there and was one of the first members of the Mennonite (Old) Church to graduate from college, receiving the B.S. degree from Northwestern University in 1898. He received the master's degree from Harvard University in 1903, and also studied at the University of Chicago and Oxford and Heidelberg universities in Europe.

Pioneered at Elkhart, Goshen

Upon graduation from Northwestern he was called to serve as principal of a recent educational venture of the Mennonite (Old) Church, the Elkhart Institute at Elkhart, Ind. Under his leadership the institute was reorganized to offer a standard high school course and one year of college.

When the institute was supplanted by the organization of Goshen College in 1903, Mr. Byers became the first president of the college and pioneered in its development as the first four-year-liberal arts college of the Mennonites in America.

After resigning as president of Goshen College in 1913, Mr. Byers and S. K. Mosiman co-operated in the establishment of Bluffton College and Mennonite Seminary as the successor of Central Mennonite College at Bluffton, Ohio. Five Mennonite conferences co-operated in the venture. As the first dean of the college, Mr. Byers again developed a full four-year-liberal arts course. In 1923 the seminary division was organized separately as Witmarsum Seminary.

Mr. Byers was associated with Bluffton College for 25 years, both as dean and Professor of Philosophy. He retired as dean in1933 and then from full-time teaching in 1938.

Other Interests”

In earlier years, Mr. Byers was active in home mission interests of the Mennonite (Old) Church. In 1905 with the help of C. Henry Smith, a close associate in educational pioneering at Elkhart, Goshen and Bluffton, he founded the Intercollegiate Peace Association. In the interest of Mennonite co-operation, he promoted the All-Mennonite Convention which met at Berne, Ind. in 1913. Subsequently eight such conventions were held, the last one in 1936.

While at Bluffton he served as president of the Bluffton Community Hospital board for 15 years, during which a new hospital was erected.

Mrs. [sic Mr.] Byers' first wife, the former Emma Lefevre of Sterling, died in 1946. Surviving him are his second wife, the former Edna Hanley, librarian at Agnes Scott College, Decatur, two sons, C. Floyd, manager of the Goshen Milk Division, Goshen, Ind., and Robert L., consulting engineer of Cleveland, Ohio; and four grandchildren.

The Mennonite obituary: 1962 Jun 26 p. 426