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Petter, Bertha Kinsinger (1873-1967)
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1967 Nov 23 p. 6
Birth date: 1873
text of obituary:
Reaches Age of 94
NEWTON, KAN. (GCNS) — Bertha Kinsinger Petter, the missionary wife of Rodolphe Petter, died on Nov. 7, 1967, at the age of 94. She passed away at the St. John's Lutheran Home, Billings, Mont. and was buried beside her husband in the Lame Deer, Mont. cemetery.
Mrs. Petter was the first General Conference woman to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree, graduating from Wittenberg College in Springfield, Ohio in 1896. She arrived in Cantonment, Okla. in September of that year where she was to teach for four years at the former Mennonite Mission School for Cheyenne and Arapaho children.
SHE WAS RELEASED from teaching duties to serve as secretary to Dr. Rodolphe Petter. Her assignment was to file Cheyenne words for a dictionary and grammar, and to proofread the translations as they were prepared for publication. With the assistance of Mrs. Petter, Dr. Petter prepared a Cheyenne-English dictionary, translations of the New Testament from the Greek, as well as translations of portions of the Old Testament and Pilgrim's Progress.
The Petters were married in 1911 at the Cheyenne Indian Chapel in Cantonment and were transferred in 1916 from Oklahoma to Lame Deer, Mont. There Mrs. Petter taught English to the Cheyennes, worked in the Indian hospital, and helped Dr. Petter's Indian assistants to prepare for Sunday worship services.
AFTER DR. PETTER'S death in 1947, Mrs. Petter occupied her time with cataloging notes and manuscripts left in her husband's collection. In 1952, she supervised the publication of a Cheyenne grammar, one of the works Dr. Petter was engaged in at the time of his death. Mrs. Petter also organized a collection of Cheyenne artifacts which is now housed in the Bethel College Historical Library and Kauffman Museum.
The celebration of Mrs. Petter's sixtieth anniversary on the mission field took place on Sept. 25, 1966 at special services in the Petter Memorial Church at Lame Deer.
The Mennonite obituary: 1967 Nov 28 p. 727
text of obituary:
Bertha Kinsinger Petter, Billings, Mont., the missionary wife of Rodolphe Petter, died on Nov. 7, at the age of ninety-four, and was buried beside her husband in Lame Deer, Mont. In 1896, she graduated from Wittenburg College, Springfield, Ohio, and went to Cantonment, Okla., where she was to teach for four years at the former Mennonite Mission School for Cheyenne and Arapaho children. She then served as secretary to Rodolphe Petter, filing Cheyenne words for a dictionary and grammar, and proofreading the translations. She also assisted in the preparation of a Cheyenne-English dictionary, a translation of the New Testament from the Greek, portions of the Old Testament, and Pilgrim's Progress. The Petters were married in 1911 and were transferred in 1916 from Oklahoma to Lame Deer, Mont. She taught English to the Cheyenne, worked in the Indian hospital, and helped Petter's Indian assistants to prepare for Sunday worship services. In 1952, she supervised the publication of a Cheyenne grammar, one of the works Petter was engaged in at the time of his death in 1947.