Harder, Bertha Fast (1914-2008)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2008 Sep 1 p. 13

Birth date: 1914 Jul 26

text of obituary:

BERTHA FAST HARDER

Bertha Fast Harder, 94, died Aug. 23, 2008, at Bethesda Home in Goessel, Kan. She was born July 26, 1914, to Herman B. and Anna Warkentin Fast in Mountain Lake, Minn.

She married Leland Harder on Aug. 8, 1951, in Mountain Lake.

She was a graduate of Mankato (Minn.) State Teachers College in 1937, of Bethel College in North Newton in 1949 and Mennonite Biblical Seminary in 1951. She was a first-grade teacher in Minnesota public schools from 1937 to 1944. Then for two years until the end of World War II, she volunteered as a relief worker in Egypt and Italy for Mennonite Central Committee and the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.

She was the first Mennonite Voluntary Service director and the first woman elected to a major Mennonite denominational board and continued as a member of the General Conference Mennonite Church’s Commission on Education for 18 years. Together with her husband she was a member of the faculty at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Ind., from 1958 to 1983.

In retirement they moved to North Newton, where she became a docent at Kauffman Museum, a frequent storyteller in the community, and director of Low German programs at Bethel’s Fall Festival. She was a member of Bethel College Mennonite Church, where she taught Sunday school children.

Survivors include her husband, Leland; two sons, John Harder and his wife, Julie, of Windsor, Ont., and Tom Harder and his wife, Lois, of Wichita; two sisters, Wilma Fast Jungas of Mountain Lake and Marie Ruth Fast Wall of Avon, Conn.; a brother, Bob Fast of Fairmont, Minn.; and five grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by a sister, Alma Fast Young.

A memorial service is being held Aug. 30 at Bethel College Mennonite Church.

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2008 Sep 8 p. 2

text of obituary:

Christian education leader dies

Harder was the first female faculty member at AMBS

By Mary E. Klassen

Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary

ELKHART, Ind. — Bertha Fast Harder, the first female faculty member at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary and the first woman elected to a major Mennonite denominational board, died Aug. 23 in Goessel, Kan. She was 94.

A leader in Christian education, Harder began a 25-year tenure at AMBS in 1958 when Mennonite Biblical Seminary moved from Chicago to Elkhart and began its association with Goshen Biblical Seminary.

She pioneered women's roles in denominational leadership, serving as the first director of Mennonite Voluntary Service and for 18 years as a member of the Commission on Education of the General Conference Mennonite Church. With COE she was active in planning, writing and leading the program of Christian education.

At AMBS, Harder developed courses for the wives of students to prepare them for leadership in the congregations where their husbands would be pastors.

Erland Waltner, president emeritus of Mennonite Biblical Seminary, said Harder's "field was Christian education, but she also worked hard with the issue of the pastor's wife, as it was called in those days. She was an emerging feminist and kept a good balance between the growing sense of women's strength and respect for the traditional roles of women in the church. She was a pioneer."

Harder was born July 26, 1914, to Herman B. and Anna Warkentin Fast in Mountain Lake, Minn. She graduated from Mankato (Minn.) State Teachers' College in 1937. She was a first-grade teacher in Minnesota public schools from 1937 to 1944.

For two years until the end of World War II, she volunteered as a relief worker in Egypt and Italy for Mennonite Central Committee and the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.

Harder earned a bachelor of arts degree from Bethel College, North newton, Kan., in 1949, and a master of religious education degree from Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Chicago in 1951.

While studying at MBS, she met Leland Harder, whom she married on Aug. 8, 1951. They joined the faculty when MBS moved to Elkhart in 1958 and both taught there until 1983.

They also were active in the development of Hively Avenue Mennonite Church in Elkhart.

In retirement the Harders moved to North Newton, where she became a docent at Kauffman Museum, a storyteller in the community and director of Low German programs at Bethel College's Fall Festival. She was a member of Bethel College Mennonite Church, where she taught Sunday school children.

Ken Hawkley, associate director of development for AMBS, was a member of Bethel College Mennonite Church when his children were young.

"Bertha made a connection with each child in her class, and they loved her for it," Hawkley said. "Bertha paid attention to who they were and always saw their potential. The highlight of the class was the annual sleepover at the Harder house with Leland and Bertha."

In the 1960s, Lillian Elias, now co-pastor of Parkview Mennonite Church in Kokomo, Ind., was at AMBS while her husband completed a master of divinity degree.

"Bertha was a strong person, strong in her faith in Christ, and strong in her commitment to the church," Elias said, "She modeled for me how a woman in her time, who might have felt sidelined in a very male-dominated culture and church environment, was able to joyfully serve Christ and the church with her gifts."

Survivors include her husband, Leland; two sons, John Harder and his wife, Julie, of Windsor, Ont., and Tom Harder and his wife, Lois, of Wichita; two sisters, Wilma Fast Jungas of Mountain Lake and Marie Ruth Fast Wall of Avon, Conn.; a brother, Bob Fast of Fairmont, Minn.; and five grandchildren. She was preceded in death by a sister, Alma Fast Young.

A memorial service was held at Bethel College Mennonite Church after an interment service at Gnadenau Mennonite Cemetery south of Hillsboro. Memorials have been established at Mennonite Central Committee and Bethel College Mennonite Church.