Gingerich, Letha Slatter (1913-2005)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2006 Jan 9 p. 8

Birth date: 1913 Aug 16

text of obituary:

LETHA GINGERICH

Letha Slatter Gingerich, 92, of Bruneau, Idaho, died Dec. 5, 2005, at a local care center in Mountain Home. She was born Aug. 16, 1913, to Joseph E. and Edna Kaufman Slatter in Holstein, Neb.

She met her life companion, Jerry Gingerich, at Hesston (Kan.) College, and they were married May 2, 1937. They moved to Filer, Idaho, in 1943 to take over her father’s farm. In 1963 they moved to the Bruneau area to farm and ranch.

In 1960 she was involved in an automobile accident, which left her partially paralyzed, and she was told she would never walk again. But with her stubborn determination, she not only proved the physicians wrong by walking again, but lived a long, productive life, not allowing her handicap to be a hindrance.

She was always very involved in her church, from teaching Bible school to working in ladies’ circles. She loved being a hostess and opened her home and dinner table to many church friends and missionary families whom she and Jerry met while doing voluntary service for charitable organizations around the world.

Survivors include four sons, Verlin and his wife, Ella, Rudy and his wife, Colleen, all of Bruneau, Donell and his wife, Frances, of Nampa, and Kermit and his wife, Clydene, of Seoul, South Korea; two daughters; Dolores Brubaker and her husband, Ervin, of Pocatello, and Mary Beth King and her husband, Loren, of Suffolk, Va.; three sisters, Florence Sheridan of Filer, Beulah Miller of Eagle, and Iola Lind of Canon City, Colo.; a brother, Carl Slatter of El Cajon, Calif.; 15 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 68 years, Jerry, who died Sept. 3, 2005; and a brother, Clifford Slatter.