Oesch, Mary Ruth Lapp (1913-2008)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2008 Jul 7 p. 9

Birth date: 1913 Aug 26

text of obituary:

MARY OESCH

Mary Ruth (Lapp) Oesch, 94, of Kalispell, Mont., died May 24, 2008, at the Heritage Place. She was born Aug. 26, 1913, to Frank and Lena (Kauffman) Lapp in Roseland, Neb.

At age 2, she moved with her family to the Flathead Valley in northwest Montana. She attended school in Creston and Flathead County High School in Kalispell. She married Harold Oesch on Sept. 9, 1934, in a double wedding with her sister, Anna Birky, in Creston.

She and Harold farmed in Creston for a few years before going to work in the woods logging. In 1959, they moved to Hesston, Kan., where they both worked at Hesston College, he on the grounds and she in food service. In 1977, they moved back to the Flathead Valley and settled on Willow Glen.

She was a member of Mountain View Mennonite Church and loved to quilt, crochet, garden, read and travel.

Survivors include three sons, Donald Oesch and his wife, Mary, of Stryker, Ohio, Duane Oesch and his wife, Leona, of Nampa, Idaho, and Glen Oesch and his wife, Lois, of Salem, Ore.; a daughter, Shirley Brenneman and her husband, Clifford, of Kalispell; five brothers, Jay Lapp of Lakeside, Ed Lapp and Wayne Lapp, both of Kalispell, George Lapp of Columbia Falls and Floyd Lapp of Molalla, Ore.; 16 grandchildren and 39 great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Harold, in 1999; two sisters and three brothers.

Memorial services were held at Mountain View Mennonite Church. Burial was in Conrad Cemetery.