Pankratz, Henry J. (1911-2006)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2006 Nov 6 p. 12

Birth date: 1911 Jan 10

text of obituary:

HENRY J. PANKRATZ

Henry J. Pankratz, 95, of Goshen, Ind., died Oct. 3, 2006. He was born Jan. 10, 1911, to Jacob B. and Helena Harder Pankratz at Mountain Lake, Minn.

He attended public school in Mountain Lake and graduated from high school in 1929. He was baptized in 1929 in Bethel Mennonite Church, where he remained a member to the end of his life.

On Aug. 21, 1933, he married Elsie Penner.

He began farming with chickens, then turkeys, and gradually added acreage for grain farming and cattle. He became a leader in the farming community, serving on the boards of Production Credit Association and Minnesota Turkey Growers Association.

He served on the school board for 21 years. He was active in county and state 4-H. He belonged to Mountain Lake Community Club, Rotary, was appointed to several church committees and chaired a church building program.

One of his most meaningful associations was with Mennonite Economic Development Associates, which he joined as one of the early members in 1953. He made several trips on behalf of MEDA, including one in 1968 to Indonesia by way of Saigon, Vietnam, where he and four others found themselves sequestered in a hotel for a week during the Tet Offensive. He was elected vice president of MEDA and served as interim president.

He and Elsie traveled worldwide and spent many winters in Arizona. They moved to Greencroft retirement community in 1992.

Survivors include his wife of 73 years, Elsie; 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, Minn.; a sister-in-law, Mabel Pankratz; 10 grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; two step-grandchildren and three step-great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by two sisters, Lena Pankratz and Anna Harder; and three brothers, Jacob, Peter and John.

Memorial services were held at Greencroft Meetinghouse in Goshen. Burial will be in the Mountain Lake, Minn., cemetery Nov. 11, followed by a memorial service at Bethel Mennonite Church.