Yoder, Wilbur (1910-1974)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1974 Jan 31 p. 11

Birth date: 1910

text of obituary:

Heart Attack Claims Life of Retired Indiana Minister

Goshen, Ind. — Rev. Wilbur Yoder, 64, who served as minister of the First Mennonite Church of Middlebury for 30 years, died unexpectedly at his Middlebury home on Jan. 23 from an apparent heart attack.

Funeral services were conducted at the church Saturday forenoon, Jan. 26, with Rev. William Hooley of Goshen and Rev. William Miller of Big Rapids, Mich. in charge.

A native of the Middlebury community, Rev. Miller was ordained to the ministry in 1936 and served in the pastorate of the First Church until January 1967. At that thime [sic] he accepted the pastorate of the Moorepark (Mich.) Mennonite Church, serving there for three years. He visited India in late 1973, conducting services at the Good Shepherd Mission in New Delhi for three weeks.

He was ordained to the office of bishop in 1961.

Rev. Yoder was owner operator of the Midwest Woolen Mills at Middlebury. He was also a sheep shearer, and records kept since 1942 showed he had sheared over 250,000 sheep.

Surviving in the immediate family are his widow, the former Suzanne Troyer; two sons, Floyd of Portland, Ore. and Forrest of Middlebury; a daughter, Mrs. Donald Houser of Middlebury; and eight grandchildren.