Graber, Elizabeth Gering (1863-1948)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1948 Sep 9 p. 3

Birth date: 1863 Mar 4

text of obituary:

MRS. ELIZABETH GRABER

Mrs. Elizabeth Graber, wife of Peter Graber, familiarly known as Spitzberger, was born in Waldheim, Russia, on March 4, 1863, and died at Moundridge, Kansas, on Monday, August 23, 1948.

She attained the ripe old age of 85 years five months and 19 days—far beyond the proverbial three score years and ten, of which the psalmist speaks in the 90th Psalm. She too could have said, "And if by reason of strength they be four score years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow." Her husband Peter Graber, at the time of his death on May 9, 1929, was also past 85 years of age.

She was the youngest child of Joseph Gering and Freni Schrag Gering, and at the time of her passing was the last member of that family. She was baptized and became a member of the Salem-Zion Mennonite church, of which she remained a faithful member until her death.

In the year 1879, when but sixteen years of age, she married Peter Graber, a widower who had two small children by a former marriage. She brought up these children, as well as six of her own, in the nurture and admonition of God, having never made any distinction between her step-children and her own children.

She was one of the now fast-disappearing cavalcade of men and women who left their homes in Russia in 1874, to get away from the European spirit of militarism and wars, to establish new homes in America, the land of freedom and of promise. And today, in these dark days of ruin, privation, starvation, and more talks of impending wars in Europe, how thankful we should be that our parents made the fateful decision and difficult undertaking to leave homes and friends in Russia, to come to a new world and establish new homes in this vast expanse of endless prairies, uncultivated lands, and new frontiers.

The deceased endured her share of hardships, suffering and tribulations incidental to pioneer life. But she also enjoyed a fair share of God's blessings and goodness. The Heavenly Father blessed the family with earthly goods, as well as with many spiritual blessings, together with a fair share of health and strength. The deceased was a very industrious woman, and enjoyed reasonably good health until her declining years, the last 15 months of which she spent in the local hospital at Moundridge, Kansas, where loving hands administered faithfully to her needs and did all that could be done for her comfort.

When old age and the infirmities thereof began to take its toll, the deceased prayed often for deliverance from the corruption of the flesh and the re-union of the spirit with the Creator who gave the life. And although the Heavenly Father in His wisdom delayed long His answer to those prayers, he finally came and took her home to be with Him, as we believe, where there will be no tears, no sorrows, and no infirmities.

She leaves to mourn her departure two sons, Jacob of Freeman, and Dr. Ben Graber of Barrington, Illinois; three daughters, Anna Goering of Moundridge, Caroline Kauffman, of Marion, South Dakota, and Elizabeth Graber, of Topeka, Kansas; a stepdaughter, Frances Graber of Freeman; a step-daughter-in-law, Anna Graber of Wisconsin; two sons-in-law, Rev. Christ Goering and J. W. Graber, of Kansas; three daughters-in-law, Mrs. Jacob P. Graber, Mrs. Jonas P. Graber, and Mrs. Ben P. Graber; also numerous grandchildren, great grandchildren, and many acquaintances and friends. Her husband, Peter Graber, her son, Jonathan Graber, her step-son, Joseph P. Graber, and an infant son preceded her in death.

She lived with her husband in married life for one week less than fifty years, and in widowhood nineteen years.