Regehr, Lydia (1902-1991)

Mennonite Brethren Herald obituary: 1991 Sept 13 p. 27; Oct 11, 1991 p. 28

Birth date: 1902 Nov 29

text of obituary:

LYDIA REGEHR

Lydia Regehr of Seattle, WA passed away suddenly of heart failure. She was born Nov. 29, 1903 in the Ukraine. Her studies at Nikopol private school for girls were interrupted in 1917. While doing office work for the American Relief Administration in Nikopol in 1922 she read all the works of Schiller, Goethe, Heine and others. In 1923 the family immigrated to the US. When she was ill for 2 years with blood poisoning, she accepted the Lord. She was baptized and joined Mountain Lake MB Church. She studied in day school, night school and summer school, graduating from State Teachers' College in 1930. She taught school in Minnesota and English to foreign born students in the Minneapolis school system. She took a year off to attend Northwestern Bible School in Minneapolis. She did social work in Minneapolis while earning her B.Sc. from the University of Minnesota in 1942. When her sister and family moved from Winnipeg to B.C., she and her father moved to Seattle, where she was a social worker. After retirement she was given a German "Life of Luther", which she translated and published. Another book, "Morning Star of Wittenberg", followed. This led to various translations, hymns and original poems and lyrics. She was a regular poetry contributor to the MB Herald and Mennonitische Rundschalt. She is mourned by a brother in Ontario and a sister in Clearbrook, B.C. The funeral was in Woodlawn Funeral Home, Clearbrook. She was buried in Yarrow, with her father.