Goertz, John David (1888-1951)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1951 Apr 5 p. 10

Birth date: 1888 Oct 28

text of obituary:

JOHN DAVID GOERTZ

John David Goertz was born October 28, 1888, the son of Rev. David and Elisabeth (nee Funk) Goertz at Hillsboro, Kansas. In his early youth he accepted and confessed Christ in Holy Baptism and became a member of the Brudertal Mennonite church. He attended the Preparatory School at Hillsboro, Kansas, and later the Bethel College academy at Newton, Kansas. While there, he was a member of the men’s glee club and oratorio chorus, and in fact during his entire life he participated in choir singing.

The friendship and associations at Bethel culminated in a beautiful lifelong relationship when he was joined in holy wedlock to Margarete Claassen of Beatrice, Nebraska, on October 30, 1915. To this union were born five children: John Richard, of Louisville, Kentucky; Hilda Elizabeth, wife of Dr. Ben H. Boltjes, of Charleston, South Carolina; Emily Louise, wife of Alan McRae of Langley, Washington; Robert David, student at the University of Washington in Seattle; and Jacob Frederick, who died in infancy.

The first ten years of his married life were spent in farming, and later he entered into the Cooperative Oil Company at Beatrice. He was a charter member of the Beatrice Mennonite church, and devoted much of his time in the interests of music, serving as choir director, singing in his male quartet, and wherever he was able to assist and uplift. He also participated in civic activities, and sang with the Kiwanis Glee Club for fifteen years.

In 1942, the family located in Seattle, Washington, where they resided for seven years. His church membership was transferred to the First Baptist church there, where he also became a member of the choir and the board of deacons. In July 1949 he was stricken with a cerebral hemorrhage from which recovered partially. In November 1949 he again took up residence in Beatrice, and rejoined the Beatrice Mennonite church.

Despite medical and loving care, his health gradually failed, until on March 7, 1951, the weary mind and body were released and his soul took its flight to its eternal home. He died as he had lived, in simple trust and courageous faith.

Besides his wife, Margarete, four children, and five grandchildren, he is survived by four brothers: Henry D. and Cornelius D., of Martinez, Calif.; Daniel E., of Hamburg, New York, Theo. D., of Edwardsville, Ill.; and two sisters, Sara D. (Mrs. Menno Claassen) of Beatrice, and Elisabeth D. Goertz, a missionary nurse now at. Hong Kong, China. His mother-in-law, Mrs. Agathe L. Claassen, and an uncle Frank N. Funk, as well as many other relatives and friends mourn his passing.

Funeral services were held at the Beatrice Mennonite church on March 11, 1951, with the pastor, Rev. Elmer R. Friesen officiating assisted by Rev. Daniel Claassen, pastor of the Baptist church at Arthur, Neb. Rev. Jacob T. Friesen, pastor of the First Mennonite church, Beatrice, sang “Open the Gates of the Temple” and Miss Eleanor Claassen of Bethel college sang “Near To the Heart of God.” “Praise Ye the Father” was sung by the younger men’s quartet. All were favorite songs of the departed which he had been requested to sing many times.

He was carried to his last resting place, the Mennonite cemetery, by three brothers-in-law, Aron N., Menno and Rev. Dan Claassen, and the three members of his male quartet, John J. Penner, Jacob Wiebe, and Jacob J. Jantzen.