Hostetler, Beulah Stauffer (1926-2005)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2005 May 9 p. 9

Birth date: 1926 Jul 8

text of obituary:

Teacher and writer dies at 78 in Goshen

GOSHEN, Ind. — Beulah S. Hostetler, 78, a teacher and writer on Mennonite faith and culture who served in denominational leadership roles, died April 30 at home from congestive heart failure.

Hostetler taught at Elizabethtown (Pa.) College, where she was assistant professor of sociology from 1986-89 and associate director of the Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies from 1987-89. She was the author of American Mennonites and Protestant Movements and editor of The Complete Writings of Menno Simons.

She was active in leadership in the Mennonite Church, serving on the Council on Faith, Life and Strategy, the Mennonite Confession of Faith Committee, the Mennonite Historical Committee, the Task Force on Principles of Biblical Interpretation and the Mennonite World Conference-Baptist World Alliance Intfaith Dialogue. She served on the editorial council of Mennonite Encylopedia, Vol. V and the editorial board of Mennonite Quarterly Review.

She served on the boards of Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va., and Christopher Dock Mennonite High School in Lansdale, Pa.

Hostetler also had worked as a book editor and designer for Mennonite Publishing House. She collaborated with her husband, John in research on the Amish, Hutterites and Mennonites. She received Goshen College's Culture for Service Award in 1996.

She earned a bachelor's degree from Goshen College and a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania in 1977.

She was born July 8, 1926, in Tofield, Alta., to Ezra and Irene (Lehman) Stauffer. On Feb. 14, 1953, she married John A. Hostetler. He died Aug. 28, 2001.

Surviving are three daughters, Ann Hostetler of Goshen, Mary Hoyt of Irmo, S.C., and Laura Hostetler of Oak Park, Ill.; seven grandchildren; a brother, james L. Stauffer of Salt Lake City, Utah; and a half-sister, Ruth Ann Stauffer of Montclair, N.J.

She was preceded in death by a brother, Robert Stauffer.

Services were scheduled for May 7 at College Mennonite Church, with burial in Violett Cemetery, Goshen.