Duerksen, Elda June (1924-1953)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1953 Jan 8 p. 1

Birth date: 1924 Jun 20

text of obituary:

Two Kansas Teachers Die In Plane Crash

ELDA DUERKSEN, INMAN, ONE OF 27 VICTIMS IN IRELAND TRAGEDY

Among the 27 persons who died in the crash of a British airliner at Belfast, Ireland on Jan. 5 were two Kansas school teachers, Miss Elda J. Duerksen, 26 [sic 28], and Miss Delores Griffing, 30, it was reported by airlines representatives following the tragedy.

Miss Duerksen, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. D. R. Duerksen of Inman, graduated from Bethel College in 1946 and had been teaching at Salina, Kans. She and Miss Griffing, a native of Smith Center, Kans., had gone to Holland last August as exchange teachers under provisions of the Fulbright scholarship fund.

The two young women apparently were on a vacation trip to Belfast in northern Ireland where a brother of Miss Griffing is stationed with the U. S. Army. While making the landing, the twin-engine plane struck a beacon tower about 50 feet off the ground, careened off an airport building and burst into flames when it struck the runway. Only eight passengers escaped, and seven of these were injured.

Miss Duerksen was an honor student while in college here and was active in student organizations. In addition to her parents, she is survived by three sisters, Mrs. Earl Koehn of North Newton, Mrs. Chester Goertz of Hillsboro, and Mrs. Ferd Ediger, who with her husband and child is to sail this month for Japan to take up missionary work.

Miss Duerksen’s body will be flown home for burial.

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Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1953 Jan 15 p. 6

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Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1953 Jan 29 p. 9

text of obituary:

ELDA JUNE DUERKSEN

1

Our daughter and sister, Elda June Duerksen, was born at our home in Inman, Kansas, on June 20, 1924. In babyhood she began to develop loving ways. Love continued to be the directive force of her life and motivated each step. Early she showed a serious sense of responsibility.

... I myself commend Unto thy guidance from this hour; Oh, let my weakness have an end! Give unto one, made lowly wise, The spirit of self-sacrifice;... And in the light of truth thy Bondman let me live!

On August 18, 1940, she was baptized by Rev. John E. Kaufman upon her confession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as her Savior from sin and became a member of the Inman Mennonite church, where she remained a member until her death. Where-ever she worked or studied, she was faithful in attending services regularly and enjoyed the fellowship of believers. It was at church that she found her new home in Holland. On her first Sunday there she attended the Grate [sic Grote] Kirk; it was here that she met Mr. Van de Pol and his family who opened their home to her. She loved the word of God, for her Bible was her constant companion, in her room or on her travels. She endeavored to make her students love it as well as she loved it herself.

She loved her schooling from the primary grades to the college. She loved to learn and she loved those who taught. The Inman schools, grade and high school, were the first stages of her learning. She loved education so well that she wanted to share it with others. She chose Bethel college as the place to prepare herself to be a teacher, where her diligent and conscientious effort achieved for her the honors of graduation with high distinction and membership in the Order of the Golden A.

Elda’s life was greatly enriched by her interest in other people and other places. One summer she traveled to Norristown, Penna., where she was active in a mental hospital unit. Another summer she went to Estes Park, Colo. where she worked in the Y.M.C.A. camp. In the summer of 1948, she joined the student group touring Europe and worked in the work camp rehabilitation project in Hamburg, Germany. In the summer of 1951 she visited the Mennonite colonists in Old Mexico.

Her most recent outreach was to Holland through the United States Education Foundation in the Netherlands. The executive secretary testifies to her sense of duty and her love of mankind by saying:

“The realization that Miss Duerksen will no longer be a member of the Fulbright group here in Holland has come as a shock to us all. By her kindness and sensitivity and especially as an ambassador of good will for America in another country, Miss Duerksen has made a marked contribution to the cause of better international understanding.”

On January 5, 1953, at Belfast, Ireland, at the age of 28, Elda’s pilgrimage and mission was concluded. Her part in the world’s work and in the Divine Plan is finished. But the work needs to go on. It is to her family and to her friends that she leaves the challenge of love and duty in the great unfinished task of work in the Kingdom of God. — Mr. and Mrs. D. R. Duerksen, Earl and Louise Koehn and Dennis Ray, Ferl and Viola Ediger and John Kenneth, Chester and Darlene Goertz.