Kwascha, Maria (d. 1949)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1949 Jul 28 p. 5

Birth date:

text of obituary:

. . .

— At Inman, Maria Kwascha died on Friday, July 22, and thus was perhaps the first one to pass away of the displaced persons brought to America by the Menn. Central Com. Readers will remember that she was on the picture published in the Review of the refugee group which arrived in Newton last spring. Her children, Mr. and Mrs. Dyck, with whom she was staying in a home at the Hoffnungsau church, found her dead beside her bed in the morning, death evidently having been caused by a stroke. Since the Hoffnungsau church is not yet finished, the funeral was held in the Buhler Mennonite church on Monday, July 25. The officiating ministers were Rev. Albert Gaeddert, Rev. A. J. Dyck and Rev. C. H. Voth. The funeral was unusual in that the children requested it to be conducted somewhat in the custom of Mrs. Kwascha’s native Russia, as they felt she would also have wanted it. Burial was in the Hoffnungsau cemetery.