Hershberger, Gideon (1926-2002)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2002 Nov 25 p. 8

Birth date: 1926

text of obituary:

Amish man who won court case dies at 76

MINNEAPOLIS — An Old Order Amish window maker who was at the center of a 1988 Supreme Court case died Oct. 29 at age 76, after a bout with cancer.

Gideon Hershberger of Canton, Minn., was a member of the conservative Swartzendruber Amish sect. His resistance to displaying a slow-moving-vehicle triangle on his buggy led all the way to the U. S. Supreme Court.

According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Hershberger's case eventually was referred back to the Minnesota Supreme Court, where he ultimately prevailed in what was regarded as an important religious-freedom decision.

Hershberger spent a week in the Fillmore County jail in southeastern Minnesota after refusing on religious grounds to pay a fine or perform community service for refusing to display the orange emblem on his horse-drawn vehicle.

Former Fillmore County sheriff Don Gudmundson told the Star-Tribune that Hershberger had "quiet courage."

"He was my friend from day one," Gudmundson said of Hershberger, with whom he occasionally went fishing.