Gingerich, Solomon Francis (1875-1948)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1948 Oct 7 p. 4, 8

Birth date: 1875 Aug 26

text of obituary:

Death Claims Former Member of Goshen Faculty

S. F. GINGERICH WAS PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH AT GOSHEN COLLEGE 1905-11

Kalona, Iowa. — Funeral services for Dr. S. F. Gingerich, professor of English at Goshen College from 1905 to 1911, who died Monday at his home north of Kalona, were held Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 29, at the Lower Deer Creek Mennonite church with Bishop John Y. Swartzendruber in charge.

Dr. Gingerich, a native of Kalona received his Ph.D. degree from Michigan university in 1909 and returned to Ann Arbor in 1911 as a member of the English faculty. For 20 years, until his retirement in 1931 he taught English literature to thousands of Michigan students who enrolled in his classes.

Wrote College Text

He was author of a number of books, among which were "Wordsworth: A Study in Memory and Mysticism," published in 1908; "Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Browning, a Study of Human Freedom," published in 1911; and "Essays in the Romantic Poets," published in 1924 and widely used as a college text.

Among those from a distance who attended the funeral were Mrs. Gingerich's sister, Mrs. R. W. Fidler, and a nephew, Dr. Melvin Gingerich, both of Goshen, Ind.

Solomon Francis, son of Joseph and Veronica Goldsmith Gingerich, was born in Johnson county, Iowa, Aug. 26, 1875, and passed away near Kalona, Iowa, Sept. 27, 1948, aged 73 years one month and one day.

He was the sixth of a family of ten children, all but Otto of Wellman, Iowa, having preceded him in death. In his youth he united with the Mennonite Church and at the time of his marriage he transferred his membership to the Methodist Church, of which he was a member at the time of his death.

On June 22, 1910, he was united in marriage with Beulah Pearl Kauffman of Goshen, Indiana. To this union two children were born, Horace Richard, who preceded him in death Oct. 7, 1927, at Ann Arbor, Mich., and Dr. Hugh Francis of Washington, D. C. Besides his wife, son and one brother, he leaves many other relatives and friends.

After completing his work at the Elkhart Institute he continued his education at Indiana University, receiving his Bachelor of Arts and his Masters degrees there. He received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Michigan.

He was deeply interested in education and chose teaching as his life work. He first taught four years in the country schools of Iowa, from 1894 to 1898. While attending Elkhart Institute he also taught there two years, and then taught five years at Goshen College. Following this, he taught twenty years at the University of Michigan.

He retired from active teaching in 1931 and moved to Springdale, Arkansas. In 1941 he moved to Eureka Springs, Ark. and there because of the shortage of teachers was called back to the schoolroom for a few years.

His health had been gradually failing for about four years. Last February he suffered a cerebral thrombosis and in April he, with his wife, was brought to Iowa into the home of his nieces, Edna and Mary Gingerich, who gave very helpful assistance in caring for him to the last. His patience and sunny smile won for him many friends.

The following poem, taken from a collection of original writings published by Dr. Gingerich under the title "Poems and Comments," was read at the final services.

Why Immortality

In boundless space man's but a speck.
He's but a dot in endless time;
A dot, a speck, which seems lost in
A shoreless, fathomless sublime.

And yet this speck will not be lost
In time and space however vast —
These know not that they are; man knows —
His life in higher mould is cast.

His deep self-consciousness and will,
His conscience and his moral force,
His soul and spirit—all proclaim
For him a timeless, spaceless course.

God was, and is, will ever be;
Eternity is His own span,
All space and time are in His hand;
And He imparts Himself to man.

God's Being functions within him.
Dwells at the center of his soul,
Removes earth's bounds and sets him free; —
Man sweeps to his eternal goal!