Harder, Ernst (1922-1995)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1995 Nov 2 p. 15

Birth date: 1922 Jan 23

Text of obituary:

Retired Missionary, Pastor Dies at 73 in North Newton

By GCMC News Service

NORTH NEWTON, Kan. — Ernst Harder, 73, a retired General Conference Mennonite missionary and pastor, died Oct. 25 at his home.

He and his wife, Ruth, served with the Commission on Overseas Mission from 1956 to 1976. During this time he was a teacher and president of the Mennonite Biblical Seminary at Montevideo, Uruguay. The Harders also lived in Germany and Paraguay.

Harder also was a pastor. He was the first secretary of Hispanic ministries for the Commission on Home Ministries, a position he held for three and a half years beginning in 1979.

Harder was born in the Ukraine. He received a bachelor of arts degree from Bethel College, North Newton, and a master of divinity degree from Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Chicago. He was a member of Bethel College Mennonite Church.

He is survived by his wife, Ruth; two daughters, Trudy Lakin and Margie Wiens, both of Hesston; two sons, Richard of Wichita and Robert of Plano, Texas; a sister, Eva Rempel of British Columbia; a brother, Peter of Aregua, Paraguay; and eight grandchildren. Two sons and a brother preceded him in death.

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Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1995 Nov 16 p. 11

Text of obituary:

ERNST HARDER

Ernst Harder was born Jan. 23, 1922, in the Molotschna Mennonite Colony in the Ukraine. In 1924 his family fled to Germany, and in 1935 they moved to Paraguay. In 1939 Ernst traveled to the United States to study, graduating from Bethel College, North Newton, Kan., in 1945. He did postgraduate work at several universities and at Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Chicago.

On Aug. 23, 1946, Ernst married Ruth Ewert at Johannestal Mennonite Church north of Hillsboro, Kan. They had six children. They spent three and a half years in Paraguay resettling Mennonite refugees and helped found a Mennonite church in Asuncion, Paraguay (1944-49). Returning to North America, Ernst pastored the Mennonite church in Pulaski, Iowa (1951-54) and was chaplain at Bethel Deaconess Hospital in Newton, Kan. (1954-56). From 1956-58 the Harders served with Mennonite Central Committee in Frankfurt, Germany. Starting in 1958 he taught Mennonite history and ethics and was later named president of Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Montevideo, Uruguay.

In 1975 the family moved to Kansas, where Ernst was pastor of Lehigh Mennonite Church (1976-77), visitation pastor at Bethel College Mennonite Church (1977-79) and professor of peace studies at Bethel College (1978). From 1979 to 1985 he pastored Dallas Mennonite Fellowship in Texas. In 1985 he became program manager for mediation at the Dallas County Juvenile Department. In 1992 they retired in North Newton. In 1994 Ernst was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in his stomach. He died at home on Oct. 25, 1995.

Ernst is survived by his wife, Ruth; two daughters, Trudy Lakin and husband Ned, and Margie Wiens and husband Ernst, all of Hesston, Kan.; two sons, Richard and wife Rosie of Wichita, Kan., and Robert and wife Cindy of Dallas; eight grandchildren; a brother, Peter Harder of Aregua, Paraguay; a sister, Eva Rempel of Abbotsford, B. C.; and an adopted sister, Susa Schaeffler of Bellingham, Wash. He was preceded in death by two sons, Karl in 1954 and Ronald in 1968; and a brother, Abraham.

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The Mennonite obituary: 1995 Nov 28 p. 12, 19