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Hartzler, Robert W. (1919-1994)
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1994 Apr 14 p. 8
Birth date: 1919 Aug 4
text of obituary:
GOSHEN, Ind. - Robert W. Hartzler, an ordained General Conference Mennonite Church minister who was active in the development of several area church projects, died of cancer April 2 at the age of 74.
He was the first administrator for both Greencroft retirement community and Oaklawn Psychiatric Center. He served at Greencroft from the time it opened in 1965 until 1982. He was at Oaklawn from 1962 to 1978.
“He was an inspirational person,” said Harold Loewen, Oaklawn president and Hartzler’s successor. "He had a high level of motivation . . . and he had a sense of mission and purpose that was contagious.”
Hartzler, as chairman of the Central District Conference (GC) camping committee, was instrumental in the creation of Camp Friedenswald near Cassopolis, Mich., in the late 1940s and early 50's.
He also pastored Silver Street (now Silverwood) Mennonite Church in Goshen from 1942 to 1945, and Eighth Street Mennonite Church in Goshen from 1945 to 1962. He was a member of Eighth Street.
Hartzler was born Aug. 4, 1919, near Middlebury. He graduated from Goshen College in 1941 and Bethany Biblical Seminary in Chicago in 1949. He married Edna Blosser Oct 17, 1942. She died in 1991. He married Josephine Huser Troyer June 14, 1992. She survives.
Other survivors include sons Gregory of Goshen and Geoffrey of Kansas City, Kan.; stepchildren Rebecca Christophel of Harrisonburg, Va.; Kay Schrock, Mary Hoefer and Mark Troyer, all of Goshen; a sister, Esther Oyer of Scottsdale, Ariz.; six granddaughters; and 11 step-grandchildren. A son, Kim, died in 1969.
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1994 May 5 p. 11
Birth date: 1919 Aug 4
text of obituary:
Robert W. Hartzler, 74, died of cancer April 2, 1994, at his home in Goshen, Ind. A life-long resident of the Goshen area, he was born Aug. 4, 1919, to Floyd and Mary Ferne (Leek) Hartzler.
He graduated from Goshen College in 1941 and married Emma Blosser in 1942. In 1950 she became an iron-lung and rocking-bed invalid due to polio. Robert gave much attention to her needs during the many years until her death in 1991. In 1992 he married Josephine Huser Troyer.
Robert was the first or second student to graduate from Mennonite Biblical Seminary. From 1942 to 1945 he served as pastor of Wilver [sic Silver] Street Mennonite Church (now Silverwood) and from 1945 to 1962 as pastor of Eighth Street Mennonite Church in Goshen.
He was active in the Central District Conference (GC) and was the first editor of the Central District Reporter. He chaired its camping committee, starting and developing Camp Friedenswald in southern Michigan. He provided construction leadership and fundraising experience for Eighth Street and other congregations in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan. Perhaps his greatest gifts on behalf of Mennonites in the Goshen/Elkhart community were that of promoter and first executive director of the nationally known Oaklawn Psychiatric Center and later executive director of the growing Greencroft Retirement Community.
Survivors include his wife, Josephine; two sons, Gregory of Goshen and Geoffrey of Kansas City, Kan.; three stepdaughters, Kay Schrock and Mary Hoefer, both of Goshen, and Rebecca Christophel of Harrisonburg, Va.; a stepson, Mark Troyer of Goshen; six granddaughters; 11 step-grandchildren; and a sister, Esther Oyer of Scottsdale, Ariz. A son, Kim, died in 1969.
Services were held April 5 at Eighth Street Mennonite Church, with Myron Schrag officiating. Burial was in Miller Eight Square Cemetery.
Bob will be remembered as a pioneering promoter, an able administrator and a modest minister of the gospel.
The Mennonite obituary: 1994 May 10 p. 19
Robert W. Hartzler, Eighth Street Church, Goshen, Ind., died of cancer April 2. He was 74. Hartzler served pastorates at Silver Street (now Silverwood) Church in Goshen and Eighth Street Church. He was the first administrator for both Greencroft retirement community and Oaklawn Psychiatric Center in Goshen and was instrumental in the creation of Camp Friedenswald, Cassopolis, Mich.