Holsinger, Justus G. (1911-2007)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2007 Aug 20 p. 7

Birth date: 1911 Jul 8

text of obituary:

Teacher at three colleges, mission worker dies at 96

By Susan Balzer

HESSTON, Kan. — Justus G. Holsinger, an educator, church administrator, writer and mission worker, died Aug. 8 at Newton Medical Center. He was 96.

Holsinger taught at three Mennonite colleges and helped establish mission schools in Puerto Rico and Bolivia.

Born July 8, 1911, near Harrisonburg, Va., the son of Henry s. and Elizabeth Cline Holsinger, he was baptized at Lindale Mennonite Church in Virginia as a teenager.

Holsinger met Salome Fast in Puerto Rico, where he was serving in Civilian Public Service during World War II, and she was serving as a nurse with Mennonite Central Committee. They were married Dec. 16, 1944.

Holsinger taught at Bluffton, Hesston and Bethel colleges and was academic dean at Hesston and director of teacher education at Bethel. He served as the executive secretary of the Council of Mennonite Colleges.

Holsinger received undergraduate degrees in social and natural science from Eastern Mennonite University and Bridgewater College and graduate degrees in history, political science, psychology and education from the University of Virginia and the University of Kansas.

After teaching in Bluffton, he returned to Puerto Rico from 1949 to 1952, where he directs the La Plata Project for the former Mennonite Board of Missions and MCC. The project included agriculture, education and medical work. Later he helped the Academia Menonita de Summit Hills, a K-12 school in Aibonito, receive accreditation. he also wrote, Serving Rural Puerto Rico, the story of the first eight years of Mennonite mission work on the island.

During his retirement, Holsinger also accepted a service assignment in Bolivia, where he helped start the Santa Cruz Christian Learning Center.

Holsinger became a member of Hesston Mennonite Church soon after moving to Hesston in 1952 and served as an elder, adult Sunday school teacher and superintendent. He wrote Upon This Rock: Remembering Together the 75-Year Story of Hesston Mennonite Church in 1984.

He also served as coordinator of South Central Conference in the former Mennonite Church.

"He was a very kind person, a person of integrity, intelligent and capable," said Willard Conrad, a former colleague at Hesston College. "I have a lot of respect for Justus."

Holsinger's wife survives, along with two sons, Dave of Houston, Texas, and Don of Edmonds, Wash.; two daughters, Betty Shenk of Harrisonburg, Va., and Becky Rand of Winter Park, Colo.; 11 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

A memorial service was to be held Aug. 18 at Schowalter Villa, with burial in Eastlawn Cemetery.

Memorials may be made to the Holsinger Teaching Scholarship at Bethel College, the Good Samaritan Fund at Schowalter Villa, or MCC.