Pankratz, Elsie Marie Penner (1910-2007)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2007 Mar 5 p. 13

Birth date: 1910 Mar 1

text of obituary:

ELSIE MARIE PANKRATZ

Elsie Marie Pankratz, 96, formerly of Mountain Lake, Minn., died Feb. 22, 2007, in Goshen, Ind. She was born March 1, 1910, to Abraham A. Penner and Aganetha Balzer Penner in Mountain Lake.

She graduated from Mountain Lake High School in 1928 and attended the University of Minnesota for two years. She was baptized at Bethel Mennonite Church in 1927, where she remained a member her whole life.

On Aug. 21, 1933, she married Henry Pankratz in Mountain Lake. He died Oct. 3, 2006.

She was a supporter of her husband’s farming business. She served on many committees at Bethel church, where she taught Sunday school, Mennonite history to high school youth, sang in the choir and was a member of Bethel Mission Society. She was one of the first women to join Mennonite Economic Development Associates. She and Henry, together with others in their community, started the Mountain Lake Heritage Village Museum. She enjoyed art, music, quilting, hand work and flower gardening.

She was interested in other peoples and cultures and traveled throughout the world. They served as host family for a young Mennonite refugee from Russia, Justina Neufeld, in 1948, a Rotary International exchange student from Indonesia, several “Fresh Air” children from Chicago and numerous international guests.

They moved to Greencroft retirement community in Goshen, Ind., in September 1992.

Survivors include three daughters, Lenore Waltner and her husband, James, of Goshen, Louise Kreider and her husband, Emil, of Beloit, Wis., and Barbara Fast and her husband, John, of Harrisonburg, Va.; a son, Stanley Pankratz and his wife, Eileen, of Minneapolis; 10 grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; two step-grandchildren and three step-great-grandchildren; and a sister-in-law, Mabel Pankratz.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Henry; a brother, Albert Penner; and two sisters, Hulda Rich and Martha Unruh.

A memorial service will be held at Bethel Mennonite Church in Mountain Lake on March 10. Burial will be in Mountain Lake Cemetery.