Harder, Menno S. (1898-1965)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1965 Aug 12 p. 12

Birth date: 1898 Aug 25

text of obituary:

Former Bethel College Professor Called by Death at Winfield

Winfield, Kan. — Dr. M. S. Harder, associate professor of sociology and English at Southwestern College here, died Tuesday morning, Aug. 10. He was 66.

Dr. Harder was a long-time faculty member at Bethel College, North Newton, coming to Southwestern College several years ago. He also taught at Tabor College, Hillsboro, and in earlier years taught in elementary schools, high schools and junior high. He was principal of Buhler High School (Kansas), 1926-36. At Bethel he was chairman of th Division of Applied Sciences, and professor of Education and Sociology.

A native of Hillsboro, Dr. Harder graduated from Bethel College and received the Master's and Doctor's degrees from the University of Southern California.

Surviving are his widow, Katherine; two sons, Marvin of Wichita and Dr. Leland Harder of Elkhart, Ind.; two daughters, Mrs. Ollie Hiebert and Mrs. Leland Kaufman of Winfield; and a number of grandchildren.

Funeral services will be conducted at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the Bethel College Church, North Newton, with burial at Winfield.

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Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1965 Sep 2 p. 8

text of obituary:

MENNO S. HARDER (1898-1965)

A Rich, Varied Life of Teaching

The following tribute to the late Dr. Menno S. Harder, formerly of the Bethel College faculty, was written by his two sons, Marvin and Leland Harder, and read by Leland at the funeral on Aug. 12 at the Bethel College Mennonite Church.

MENNO S. HARDER was born on Aug. 25, 1898, the son of Professor and Mrs. D. E. Harder of Hillsboro, Kan. It was in this town for the most part that he grew up attending the local public schools and college. He received the B. A. degree from Bethel College and the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Southern California. Even before his formal education was completed he devoted himself to the vocation of teaching, including elementary, secondary, and cologne levels of education during his life span.

Regarding church affiliation he was a birthright Mennonite, with successive members he gave leadership in three branches of this denomination. He tried to appropriate the best qualities of each of these church traditions, and always appreciated the conversionist fervor of the Krimmer Mennonites and Mennonite Brethren together with the freer spirit of the General Conference Mennonites. It is not insignificant in this regard that he devoted most of his professional life to the two colleges sponsored by these groups.

HE WAS married to Katherine Wiens, whom he met when they were students at Tabor Academy and College; and to this marriage were born four children — Marvin, Lois, Leland, and Joan. Among countless gifts which he exercised in behalf of his family was a priestly ministry of family prayer at mealtime and on occasions when the family was gathered.

When his children left home he reinforced the family bond by faithful letter-writing. Like his own father before him, he had a great interest in the wider family relationships; and up a few weeks before his death, he gave leadership to the publication of a newsletter mailed to many descendants of his grandfather and to the organization of large-scale family reunions.

FOR 24 YEARS he was a college professor, first at Tabor College in Hillsboro, then at Bethel College in North Newton, where he was retired at the age of 65. With the firm conviction that his teaching career was not yet concluded, he secured a position as associate professor of English and sociology at Southwestern College in Winfield. Here he had completd two full years of teaching and had only to finish the last day of a summer course in Literary Masterpieces when he suffered a stroke which took his life five days later on Aug. 10, 1965.

Those who are left behind with cherished memories of a humble and noble life include his widow, four children, four children-in-law, and eleven grandchildren. Also surviving are his mother, three brothers and one sister, and their families. His was the first death in the immediate family after 45 years of marriage, and in his parental family he was preceded in death only by his father who passed away in 1930.

HIS FATHER, Professor David E. Harder, taught Greek, mathematics, and theology. He was reputed to have been a gifted teacher. It is not surprising, therefore, that years later his eldest son should seek and obtain the degree of doctor of philosophy and pursue the academic life. Nor is it surprising that both sons of Menno Harder should choose to join the academic community. A tradition was in the making.

The dates and places of his degrees and positions are less important than his attributes as an academic man. He shunned the advice of Erasmus, who counseled the teacher to make his students understand their subordinate status. Instead he treated students as though they possessed dignity equal to his own. No fact more nearly symbolizes his attitude than the words of the African student who stood next to his bed before he died and said, “He was not merely my teacher; he was my personal friend.”

HE WAS A GENERALIST rather than a specialist, a characteristic born of necessity. When he first went out to teach at Buhler High School, he was given the choice of teaching music or coaching. He chose the former and forthwith began practicing choral conducting before a mirror. Years later he would elect sociology as his field, but even then he taught Shakespeare. Among his most prized books is a set of Shakespeare printed in German. He could translate with ease.

Many years ago he had ad a statement that a man was indubitably a success if he wrote a book, built a house, and raised a son. By these standards he qualified. He was a versatile man. His doctoral dissertation on the history and philosophy of Mennonite education exceeded 500 pages; and he still hoped one day to edit the manuscript for publication. He could use the carpenter's tools with precision, and the houses in which he lived invariably underwent progressive remodeling by his own hands. He knew how to diagram a sentence. He knew how to till a field.

THE AFFECTION and respect of his children and that of their spouses and their children was his most cherished asset. A bulletin board in his study contains newspaper clippings about each of them. Though some were yellowed with age, he retained them. Let it be known, as he would have wished, that during the last five days of his life, they were with him around the clock, reassuring him that he had not invested his love in vain.

During the years he was a high school principal in Buhler, he gave many hours to the task of persuading parents to let their sons and daughters attend high school. This was at a time when secondary education for all was not a foregone conclusion. It would be impossible to measure the long term effects of such efforts, for they can only be measured in generations.

JEFFERSON WROTE that the world belongs to the living, not the dead. So, too, a memorial service is for the living. What in all the biographical information about Menno S. Harder is worthy of emphasis in the obituary? At least this: in a world characterized by the impersonality of many relationships, he treated each individual as a person, entitled to respect and attention. And this is surely consistent with, if not the essence of, the Judao-Christian [sic] doctrine that in the eyes of God every soul is sacred.

“The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).

The Mennonite obituary: 1965 Sep 14 p. 575