Swartzendruber, George A. (1899-1974)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1974 Oct 24 p. 8

Birth date: 1899

text of obituary:

Newton and Vicinity

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• Funeral services for George Swartzendruber, 74, were held Tuesday afternoon at the Hesston Mennonite Church, with Rev. John Landis in charge. Mr. Swartzendruber died Oct. 18 at Carlsbad, N. M. where he and his wife had lived since 1973. A native of Wright County, Iowa, he married Grace Snyder at Hesston in 1926. They lived in Michigan until 1963, when they moved to Hesston. Surviving in addition to Mrs. Swartzendruber are five sons, Gene and Wayne, both of Hesston, Robert of St. John, Mich., Larry of Garden City, Mo., and Richard of Tulsa, Okla.; two daughter, Mrs. Levi Troyer of Three Hills, Alberta and Virginia of Carlsbad; one sister, Mrs. Milo Stutzman of Tofield, Alberta; four brothers, Herbert of Princeton, Ill., Earl of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, Lee of Kalona, Iowa, and Fred of Goshen, Ind.; and 16 grandchildren.

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Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1974 Dec 5 p. 11

text of obituary:

GEORGE A. SWARTZENDRUBER

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George A. Swartzendruber, son of Shem and Nancy (Marner) Swartzendruber, was born near Clarion in Wright County, Iowa, on Dec. 24, 1899.

He was the sixth child in a family of nine children: Esther, Mrs. Simon Gnagy, Pigeon, Mich.; Salina, Mrs. Milo Stutzman, Tofield, Alberta; Lee, Kalona, Iowa; Fred, Goshen, Ind.; Omar, Troy, Ohio; Earl, Mt. Pleasant, Iowa; Herbert, Princeton, Ill.; Thomas, Minier, Ill. The oldest, Esther, and the youngest, Thomas, preceded him in death.

When George was five his family moved to Centralia, Mo., where his father and older brothers farmed and did custom saw milling. After nine years they returned to Iowa, near Wayland, where at age 16 George accepted Christ as his Savior while attending the Sugar Creek Mennonite Church. Later he attended Hesston Academy where he graduated in the class of 1925.

On May 2, 1926, at the Academy Chapel he married Grace Fern Snyder, daughter of Peter B. and Ida (Grabill) Snyder. This union was blessed with seven children: Gene and Wayne of Hesston; Robert, St. Johns, Mich.; Evelyn, Mrs. Levi Troyer, Three Hills, Alberta; Richard, Tulsa, Okla.; Larry, Garden City, Mo.; and Virginia, Carlsbad, N. M.

George and Grace lived on the Hesston College farm for a time before moving to Michigan in 1929, where they raised their family. In 1963 they returned to Hesston to work for the college several years before retiring and moving to Carlsbad, where they lived until George's death on Oct. 18, 1974. He was a member of the Carlsbad Mennonite Church.