Mann-Witmer, Nellie Marie Miller (1897-1997)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1997 Feb 27 p. 10

Birth date: 1897 Mar 27

text of obituary:

NELLIE M. MANN-WITMER

Nellie Marie (Miller) Mann-Witmer was born march 27, 1897, in Elkhart, Ind., the eldest daughter of Abram Rohrer and Selena Bell (Wade) Miller. She died Feb. 2, 1997, at Goshen, Ind.

Nellie accepted Christ and was baptized in Prairie Street Mennonite Church, Elkhart. She attended Goshen College from 1918 to 1921.

From 1921 to 1923 she was secretary to the treasurer of Near East Relief in the Beirut, Syria, office. She married Cleoa Mann on Aug. 25, 1924, in Elkhart. In 1936 they and three other couples were commissioned to stat Pleasant View Mennonite Church north of Goshen. Nellie taught Sunday school and Bible school and led children's meetings. In 1945 Cleo was went [sic] to Belgium under Mennonite Central Committee to direct relief operations. During his absence Nellie supported the family by working at Elkhart Paint and Wallpaper Co. In 1947-48 Nellie and son David joined him in Belgium. She was hostess at the MCC center in Brussels.

In 1953 Cleo and Nellie were sent to Indianapolis to minister to the 1-Ws and medical students and to begin First Mennonite Church. During 13 years there, they touched the lives of more than 500 young men and their families. In 1966 they were church planters for two years at Eugene (Ore.) Mennonite Church. After a one-year interim pastorate at Nampa (Idaho) Mennonite Church, they served two years with Portland (Ore.) Mennonite Church and the Pacific Coast Conference (MC). In 1971 they returned to Elkhart. Cleo died in 1978. On Nov. 30, 1980 Nellie married Samuel Witmer. He died in 1990.

Nellie is survived by a daughter, Dorothy Jean Horst and husband Alton of Tiskilwa, Ill.; a son, David and wife Mona of Hesston, Kan.; seven grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren, a stepdaughter, Mildred Harriman of LaJunta, Colo.; and a sister: Mary Esther Bigler of Goshen. She was preceded in death by her husbands and three grandchildren.