Graber, Anna (1898-1968)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1968 Mar 7 p. 7

Birth date: 1898 Jun 18

text of obituary:

Community Medical Worker Dies

Sterling, Ill. — Funeral services were held at the Science Ridge Mennonite Church here Feb. 25 for Miss Anna Graber, R.N., who devoted her life to medical service in this community. She died Feb. 23 after a one-week illness at the age of 69.

A graduate of the Mennonite Hospital School of Nursing at La Junta, Colo in 1929. Miss Graber served on the hospital staff until 1931. In that year she came to Sterling and accepted a position as office nurse for Dr. Franklin L. Rubright.

Several years later the Home Hospital here was organized by Dr. Rubright, Miss Graber and Miss Viola Glassburn. The hospital continued to provide medical services in the Sterling-Rock Falls Community until the time of Dr. Rubright's death last year. Miss Graber and Miss Glassburn then sold the hospital building and equipment, which the hospital board is to give to a selected charity.

Miss Graber is survived by four sisters and two brothers.

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Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1968 Apr 4 p. 15

text of obituary:

ANNA GRABER

Anna Graber, daughter of Daniel and Fanny Conrad Graber, was born at Noble in Washington County, Iowa on June 18, 1898, and died at the Community General Hospital in Sterling, Ill. on Feb. 23, 1968, having attained the age of 69 years, eight months, five days. She was ill for only one week, having suffered a stroke on February 16, which was the immediate cause of her death.

Anna entered nurses training in the Mennonite Hospital School of Nursing at La Junta, Colo. in 1926 and graduated with the class of 1929. After graduation she continued as a staff nurse in the Mennonite Hospital until 1931. After this she came to Sterling, Ill. and was employed as office nurse in the office of the late Dr. Franklin L. Rubright in which capacity she served until the doctor's death in 1967.

In 1933 she, with Miss Vida Glassburn and Dr. Rubright, organized the Home Hospital in Sterling, which they operated until the doctor's death. After Dr. Rubright's death, they decided to close the hospital. She and Miss Glassburn sold the building and the equipment and converted everything into cash which the Home Hospital Board will contribute to a selected charity, thus bringing to a very satisfactory conclusion an organization that served the Sterling-Rock Falls community over 30 years in a most commendable manner.

Anna took seriously the command of Jesus to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers and to raise the dead. This she did in the highest ethical and professional manner, thereby touching hundreds of lives who mourn their loss in her passing. Her pallbearers are six young men who were born in the Home Hospital.

She leaves four sisters and two brothers: Verna (Mrs. Willard H. Smith) of Goshen, Ind.; Elizabeth (Mrs. Chris M. Stoltzfus) of Manson, Iowa; Lena and Esther of Elkhart, Ind.; C. L. Graber of Goshen, and J. D. Graber of Elkhart. She was preceded by her parents and two sisters, Katie and Mary.

She was a member of the Science Ridge Mennonite Church near Sterling, where funeral services were held on Sunday, Feb. 25, in charge of Pastor Edwin Stalter, assisted by Allen Erb of Hesston, Kan., Rev. Brace Johnson, pastor of the First Christian Church of Sterling, and A. C. Good, former pastor of the Science Ridge Church, and John H. Mosemann, president of the Mennonite Board of Missions and pastor of the College Mennonite Church, Goshen, Ind. Interment was made in the cemetery near the church.