Albrecht, Dorothy (1913-1989)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1989 Dec 28 p. 11

Birth date: 1913 Dec 14

Text of obituary:

SISTER DOROTHY ALBRECHT

Sister Dorothy Albrecht was born on a farm near Beatrice, Neb., on Dec. 14, 1913, the second of three daughters of Franz and Marie (Wiebe) Albrecht.

She had a happy childhood, enjoyed school and graduated from Beatrice High School in 1933.

On May 24, 1931, upon confession of faith in Jesus Christ as her Savior, she was baptized by her father and became a member of First Mennonite Church, rural Beatrice. Later she transferred her membership to First Mennonite Church, Newton, Kan., where she was a faithful member until her death.

After graduation from high school, she spent several years doing housework in the Beatrice community. In 1939 she enrolled in an English course at University of Nebraska. In 1941 she completed a one-year accounting course at the Lincoln School of Commerce. In November 1941 she moved to Newton to take a clerical position at the Mennonite Publication Office. She held this position until 1947, except for an 18-month period during which she worked for a Newton realty company.

Feeling a strong leading and desire to become a deaconess, she entered the Bethel Deaconess Hospital training program as a probation sister in March 1948. On March 26, 1949, she joined the deaconess family in a service conducted by J. E. Entz. On June 8, 1958, she, along with Esther Schmidt, was ordained as a deaconess by J. H. Dyck.

She continued to serve faithfully in the hospital dietary department part-time prior to the move to the new building and in the medical records department as a file clerk and doing other clerical duties until health problems forced her to discontinue in 1986.

In 1986 she moved to Bethel Home for Aged, where she was a resident until her death Nov. 11, 1989, at age 75.

She will be remembered for her faithfulness in her work, her optimism, her friendliness and her religious devotion. In an amazing way, she remembered details about members of the families, especially children, of the people with whom she worked.

Survivors include Bethel sisters Esther Schmidt and Agnes Lohrentz; two sister, Margaret Albrecht of Beatrice and Helen and husband Elmer Frantz of Golden, Colo.; a niece and a nephew.

Funeral services were held at Sister Frieda Memorial Chapel on Nov. 13. Interment was in the Sisters plot in Greenwood Cemetery, Newton.