Birky, Emma Nitzsche (1892-1954)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1954 Jun 24 p. 9

Birth date: 1892 Sep 26

text of obituary:

MRS. EMMA BIRKY

Mrs. Emma Birky, daughter of the late Julius and Barbara (Oswald) Nitzsche, was born in Fulda, Minn., Sept. 29, 1892; passed away at the Corry, Pa. hospital on May 30, 1954, aged 61 years, eight months and one day.

She had suffered a heart attack on Thursday from which she seemed to have recovered, but on Friday night she had another attack and was taken to the hospital where she gradually grew weaker. Her mind was clear to the end, and she visited with her husband and her sister, Bertha, who had come to spend the week end with her, during the afternoon. At nine o’clock in the evening, after bidding her husband good-bye, she quietly fell asleep, never to awaken on this earth.

She was married to Jacob W. Birky on Feb. 14, 1912. For some years they lived near Wisner, Nebr., and then moved to Manson, Iowa. From Manson they moved to Clarence Center, N. Y., where her husband was ordained to the ministry, and 12 years ago to Spartansburg, Pa., where they were residing at her death.

She accepted Christ as her Saviour while in her teens, and served Him faithfully for many years as the wife of a minister, doing the many things required of a minister’s wife. She also sewed for the busy mothers and the poor, and helped them in many other ways. After her death many of her neighbors came in, testifying to the many things she had done for them.

Besides her husband, she leaves two adopted children, Eva, Mrs. Perry Kauffman, Akron, N. Y. and Paul of Middlebury, Ind.; 14 grandchildren, three great-grandchildren; four brothers, Dan and Arthur of Bancroft, Nebr., Albert of Amenia, N. Dak., and Elmer of Cass Lake, Minn.; four sisters, Anna, Mrs. Wm. Egli of Manson, Iowa, Bertha Nitzsche of Scottdale, Pa., Clara, Mrs. Sam Roth of Wisner, Nebr., and Lillian, Mrs. Leonard Erb, of West Point, Nebr.; and many other relatives and friends.

Funeral services were held on June 1 in charge of D. D. Miller and J. W. Oswald at the Britton Run church near Spartansburg, Pa. The body was taken to Beemer, Nebr., where services were held at the Plum Creek church on June 4, with Sam Oswald officiating. Burial was made in the Beemer cemetery.