Hackman, Ada Alderfer Clemens (1908-2009)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2009 May 4 p. 13

Birth date: 1908 Jan 6

text of obituary:

ADA HACKMAN

Ada Alderfer Clemens, 101, of Edmonton, Alta., died March 24, 2009. She was born Jan. 6, 1908, to a farm family in eastern Pennsylvania.

She attended a one-room school, where she completed grade eight. As a young woman she worked in a clothing factory. At age 21 she married Linford Hackman, a carpenter.

During the 1930s Linford’s interests became focused on Christian mission work among northern communities. His vision included learning to fly small aircraft. Their life together took her and their young children to northern Minnesota (1939-45), and then to Alberta.

From 1946 to 1965, they lived in a farming community west of Carstairs, Alta. Linford served as an assistant pastor at West Zion Mennonite Church. He spent considerable time visiting other communities, so she had the primary responsibility of looking after the household. In 1965 they moved to Edmonton. By then the children were raised, so she was free to join him in his work. She spent considerable time offering warm and loving hospitality to out-of-town guests. She traveled with Linford by car to northern Alberta to visit families who were attempting to establish Christian communities. She considered this one of the most enjoyable times in her life.

Linford died in 1983. Because of many church connections established over the years, as a widow she received much support through correspondence and personal visits.

Survivors include two daughters, Twila Steckly of Edmonton and Martyne Kempel and her husband, Ted, of Warsaw, Ohio; three sons, Lowell Hackman and his wife, Rae, and James Hackman and his wife, Jeanette, all of Cochrane, and Arlin Hackman and his wife, Judy, of Toronto; five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

A private family memorial is planned for July 11 in Cochrane, at which time her ashes will be buried in the family plot at West Zion Mennonite Church cemetery.