Kreider, Amos E. (1889-1976)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1976 Feb 12 p. 3

Birth date: 1889 Oct 19

text of obituary:

Well-Known Retired Pastor, Bible Teacher Dies at Goshen

Amos E. Kreider of Goshen, Ind., well-known retired pastor, college and seminary Bible teacher and churchman, died Wednesday morning it was learned here by a son, Robert S. Kreider. he was 86.

Rev. Kreider had been in failing health for some time but had resided in his apartment at Greencroft Center until two weeks ago when he was taken to the Greencroft Nursing Center.

Funeral services are to be held Saturday, Feb. 14, at the Eighth Street Mennonite church in Goshen.

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1976 Feb 26 p. 11

text of obituary:

AMOS E. KREIDER

Amos E. Kreider, 86, pastor, Bible teacher, and conference leader, died at Greencroft Nursing Center, Goshen, Ind., on Feb. 11, 1976. He had been a patient of the nursing center for two weeks and had been in failing health for two years.

A native of Sterling, Ill. where he was born on Oct. 19, 1889, he attended Goshen Academy and College, graduating in 1915. He graduated from Garrett Biblical Institute in 1917. He was married on Sept. 5, 1917 to Stella Shoemaker of Freeport, Ill., who survives him.

Rev. Kreider was associated with five Mennonite educational institutions. He taught Bible for a year, 1917-1918, at Goshen College, returning in 1921 after three years of farming at Sterling, Ill. to two additional years on the Goshen Bible faculty. With the closing of Goshen College in 1923, he taught Bible for the following eight years at Bluffton College and Witmarsum Theological Seminary, Bluffton, Ohio. From 1935 to 1943 he taught Bible at Bethel College. In later years he has taught occasional courses at the Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Ind.

He held several pastorates: the Science Ridge Mennonite Church of Sterling, 1918-1921; the Goshen College Mennonite congregation, 1923-24; the First Mennonite Church, Bluffton, Ohio, 1931-35; and the Eighth Street Mennonite Church, Goshen, Ind., 1943-46.

As a young man he served as secretary of the Mennonite Board of Education of the Mennonite Church, 1920-22. For many years, beginning in 1935, he was a member of the foreign Mission Board of the General Conference, alter serving as chairman. He was one of the founders of the Greencroft Foundation which established the retirement community where he and his wife made their home. He served on the board of directors of Mennonite Biblical seminary.

His work with the Board of Missions led to a year of travel in 1946-47 in Europe, Asia and South America on behalf of the mission board and the Mennonite Central Committee.

After his retirement from the pastorate in 1946 Rev. Kreider farmed for a time, carried a variety of conference responsibilities, and served in various interim pastoral and teaching positions.

Rev. Kreider is survived by his wife, Stella, who lives in the Greencroft retirement village; two sons, Gerald of Goshen, Ind. and Robert of North Newton, Kan; 11 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

On Saturday morning, Feb. 14, a prayer service for family and friends was conducted at the Yoder-Culp Funeral Home by Simon Gingerich, and a service of thanksgiving and praise was conducted at the Eighth Street Mennonite Church by his pastor, Paul Goering.