Lohrenz, Anna M. Friesen (1877-1975)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1972 May 4 p. 11 (bio)

Birth date: 1877

text of obituary:

Early Immigrant from Russia

Observes 95th Birthday

HILLSBORO, KAN. — Mrs. H. W. Lohrenz observed her 95th birthday Sunday afternoon, April 23, with an "open house" for more than 200 friends and relatives in the Mennonite Brethren Church, Hillsboro.

She was born Anne M. Friesen on April 24, 1877, in Klippenfeld in the Molotshna Colony of the southern Ukraine. Her parents were Julius Friesen, M.D., and Anna Jantzen Enns Friesen. With them and several siblings she emigrated to America when she was two. The family lived first at Boone County, Nebraska and later in Mountain Lake, Minnesota.

HER LIFE spanned the years from homesteading in a sod house to seeing men on the moon and traveling by air herself. Before her marriage to the late Henry W. Lohrenz, founder of Tabor College and active in the ministry and missions administration, Mrs. Lohrenz taught in public schools of Minnesota and Dakota. For about 40 years, until her 80th birthday, she was an active Sunday school teacher, and for ten more years, to her 90th birthday, she substituted as teacher in these classes. [note: last 1 and 1/2 sentences duplicated in original]

Until a little more than two years ago Mrs. Lohrenz lived alone in her home at 209 South Madison Avenue, Hillsboro. Her present address is Apt. 15 A, Parkside Homes, Hillsboro.

Mrs. Lohrenz' daughter Mariana and her husband Henry D. Remple of Lawrence, Kan. were hosts at the birthday event Sunday. They were assisted by their daughter Lucy Jean McAllister of Marshall, Minn.

A SPECIAL FEATURE of the open house was a display of items from Mrs. Lohrenz' family possessions brought from the Ukraine at the time of the emigration to America, and some photographs and objects from her childhood and youth. Tied into these historical themes was an extensive exhibit of color photographs made from slides taken by the Remples in June 1971 when they visited former Mennonite villages of the Ukraine with Dr. Cornelius Krahn's tour group. Mrs. Lohrenz' birthplace, Klippenfeld was among those shown.

Mrs. Lohrenz' son Henry Herbert, was unable to come from his home in Seattle, Wash. but one of his three daughters, Mrs. Carol Cater, was present at Sunday's event. Carol's daughters Karen and Jeanne were with her. Other grandchildren are Robert Keith Remple of San Francisco; Cay Lohrenz Evans of Dallas, Texas, who has two daughters, Kristin and Kara Lynn; and Mary Beth Lohrenz Fox of Rumson, N. J., who has a daughter, Lisa.

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Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1975 Mar 6 p. 4

text of obituary:

Widow of Tabor's First President Dies at Age 98

Hillsboro, Kan. — Funeral services were held at the Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church on Feb. 13 for Mrs. Anna M. Lohrenz, 98, widow of Henry W. Lohrenz, first president of Tabor College. Rev. Richard Wieneke and Dr. Cornelius Krahn officiated.

Mrs. Lohrenz died at Salem Hospital on Feb. 6. She had been a resident of Parkside Homes here for the past six years.

A native of Klippenfeld, South Russia, Mrs. Lohrenz was the former Anna Friesen. She came to America with her parents at the age of two. The family homesteaded in Nebraska, and when Mrs. Lohrenz was 17 they moved top Mt. Lake, Minn. She graduated from Mankato (Minn.) State Teachers College and taught for eight years in Dakota and Minnesota schools. She also studied at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky., and at McPherson, Tabor and Bethel colleges.

Her marriage to Henry W. Lohrenz took place in 1906, and in 1908 they moved to Hillsboro. Tabor College opened in the fall of that year with Dr. Lohrenz as its founder and first president.

Mrs. Lohrenz was a Sunday school teacher at the Hillsboro M. B. Church until her 80th year and a substitute teacher until her 90th birthday.

Surviving are one daughter, Mrs. H. D. Rempel of Lawrence, five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.