Jahnke, Margaret Edith (1925-2005)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2005 Mar 14 p. 8

Birth date: 1925 Mar 31

text of obituary:

MARGARET EDITH JAHNKE

Margaret Edith Jahnke, 79, of Elkhart, Ind., died Feb. 17, 2005. She was born March 31, 1925, to Gottlieb and Annie M. (Peters) Jahnke in Herbert, Sask.

She received her high school education in Main Center Herbert School District, her bachelor's degree from Bethel College in North Newton, Kan., and her master's degree in psychiatric social work from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. She also received a post-graduate degree in psychiatric social work from the Menninger School of Psychiatry in Topeka, Kan.

She was an adoption placement worker for Kansas Children's Service League and worked 20 years as a psychiatric social worker. She was director of diagnostic and evaluation services for Lewis Cass School System in Cassopolis, Mich., and later for the Association for the Disabled of Elkhart County. She worked for the Indiana State Department of Disabilities for several years.

She lived in the Elkhart area since 1958. She was a charter member of Hively Avenue Mennonite, where she worked as church office secretary for 11 years. She was a volunteer for the Mennonite Central Committee Ten Thousand Villages store and was on the board of Menno-Hof in Shipshewana. She was a member of the National Association of Clinical Social Workers. She was listed in the "Who's Who in American Women" for her contribution to the post-World War II relief work with refugees in Europe. She worked with refugees in rehabilitation and immigrant processing from Germany to South America and the United States and Canada. She directed International Student Summer Work Camps in Germany and worked as an interpreter for the Canadian and United States immigration services.

Survivors include two sisters, Pauline Bauman of Kitchener, Ont., and Evelyn Friesen of Mesa, Ariz.; and two brothers, Donald Jamieson of Courtenay, B.C., and Grant Jahnke of Toronto.

She was preceded in death by two brothers, Kenneth and Alfred Jahnke.

Memorial services were held at Hively Avenue Mennonite Church of Elkhart.