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Mishler, Dorsa (1916-2005)
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2005 Oct 3 p. 7
Birth date: 1916 Apr 30
text of obituary:
By Mennonite Mission Network
GOSHEN, Ind. — Dorsa Mishler helped others follow God's call toward mission. Over his 30 years as personnel director at Mennonite Board of Missions, nearly 3,000 people entered into service through MBM.
Mishler, 89, of Goshen, died of pneumonia Sept. 15 at Elkhart (Ind.) General Hospital.
During his time at the mission board, Mishler interviewed and placed candidates for staff, voluntary service and overseas mission positions, as well as many domestic worker candidates.
Several people who worked with Mishler called him a mentor. They said his generosity, compassion and organizational skills allowed him to connect with others to help advance God's plan.
"He was cued in to listening to people," said Lloyd Miller, now Central District conference minister who worked with MBM's Voluntary Service program and personnel office in the 1970s. "His attitude was that the institution is he\there to enable people's gifts . . . [for] the work of the church."
Betty Weaver, now Mennonite Mission Network finance assistant and health plan administrator, became Mishler's secretary in 1979.
"Dorsa had such a gentle spirit and a quiet, wonderful sense of humor," Weaver said. "He had such devotion to the church and to mission, I think he inspired others around him to work in the same manner."
Mishler earned an education degree from Goshen College and a master's degree in counseling and arts from Indiana University.
He served with Civilian Public Service in Beltsville, Md., from 1942-46, where he directed a CPS unit. He then spent two years as director of the first medical relief unit in Nazareth, Ethiopia. Due in part to his work, emperor Haile Selassie granted permission for Mennonite missions to exist in Ethiopia.
Returning from Ethiopia, Mishler spent two years directing the personnel office at Mennonite Central committee before moving to MBM in 1951.
After his retirement in 1981, Mishler was interim and assistant pastor at Prairie Street Mennonite Church in Elkhart. Mishler also served as overseer of seven congregations for Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference and enjoyed relating to young pastors.
He was born April 30, 1916, in Shipshewana to Homer J. and Lydia Mishler. He married Mary K. Diller on July 12, 1946, in Elida, Ohio. She survives with four sons, John of Goshen, Robert of Singers Glen, Va., Don of Dayton, Ohio, and Dennis of Brownsburg; seven grandchildren; and four siblings, Ruth Mishler, Lois Haarer, Margaret Coffman and Paul Mishler, all of Shipshewana.
He was preceded in death by an infant daughter, Barbara Anna; and a sister, Ruby Hostetler.
Services were held Sept. 19 at Yoder-Culp Funeral Home and Prairie Street Mennonite Church.