Fast, Erna Justina (1912-2008)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2008 Jul 7 p. 9

Birth date: 1912 Dec 13

text of obituary:

ERNA JUSTINA FAST

Erna Justina Fast, 95, of Hesston, Kan., died June 23, 2008, at Schowalter Villa. She was born Dec. 13, 1912, to David H. and Justina (Warkentin) Fast in Mountain Lake, Minn.

She graduated from Mountain Lake High School in 1931. She graduated from Bethel College in North Newton in 1943 with an AB degree, and from New York Biblical Seminary in 1946 with a master of religious education degree.

She served as a teacher in Minnesota Public Schools. She was a volunteer in Germany with Mennonite Central Committee after World War II. Upon returning to the United States, she was a founder of the exchange program between Bethel and Wuppertal Teacher's College in Germany.

She was director of Christian education in Congregational churches in Vermont, Illinois and New Mexico; consultant and field director of Christian education in the United Presbyterian Church; YWCA director in Oakland, Calif., and Quincy, Ill., and program director of Friendship Meals for Elderly in Hutchinson.

She had formerly been a member of Bethel Mennonite Church in Mountain Lake, Minn., since 1928. Most recently she was a member of Hesston Mennonite Church.

Survivors include two sisters, Salome Holsinger and Elizabeth McBride, both of Hesston; two brothers, Marvin Fast of Springfield, Va., and Willard Fast of Indianapolis, Ind.; and numerous nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by a brother, F. David Fast.

Memorial services will be held at the Schowalter Villa Chapel.