Dester, Anna (1861-1940)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1940 Aug 14 p. 6

Birth date: 1861 Mar 13

text of obituary:

Anna Dester, 1861-1940

Anna Dester, daughter of John and Katherine Rupp Dester, was born on March 13, 1861, near Franklin, Lee County, Iowa. Three years later, in 1864, her parents moved to Washington County, Iowa. In 1886, she, with her widowed mother, two sisters, and one brother, moved to Halstead, Kansas, where she lived the remaining days of her life.

In early youth she gave her life to Christ and was baptized on October 5, 1873, by Rev. William Galle, and joined the Mennonite congregation at Dayton, Washington County, Iowa. After coming to Kansas she transferred her membership to the Mennonite church at Halstead in 1887, where she remained a faithful member until her death.

Throughout her life she was keenly interested in her church and the upbuilding of the Lord's Kingdom. She was always ready to help along in financial and other ways as much as she could, especially in the work on Foreign Missions and Christian Education.

Her parents and all of her brothers and sisters preceded her in death. She leaves to mourn her passing: sixteen nieces and nephews, including eight children of her sister Mary Krehbiel, three children of her sister Elizabeth Peters, and five children of her brother Jacob S. Dester; a number of grand-nieces and grand-nephews; as well as many other friends who knew and loved her.

For the past few years she had been failing in health but was not bedfast until a few days before she died on July 30, 1940, which brought her life to an age of seventy-nine years, four months, and seventeen days.

Her life was not lived in the limelight of publicity but in the quietude of her home, her church, and her friends. In Christian faith she bore the duties and burdens of life without complaining. Those who knew her and shared her love will ever cherish her memory.

Funeral services were held on Friday forenoon, August 2, in the Halstead Mennonite church with Rev. David C. Wedel, her pastor in charge.

Her toil is past, her work is done,
    And they are fully blest.
She fought the fight, the victory won,
    And entered into rest.
Then let our sorrows cease to flow,
    God has recalled His own;
But let our hearts in every woe
    Still say, "Thy will be done."