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Petter, Laura Rohrman (1899-1976)
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1976 Oct 28 p. 7
Birth date: 1899 Feb 8
Text of obituary:
Missionary To Cheyennes Dies
Newton, Kan. (GCNS) — Laura Petter was buried Oct. 2 at Lame Deer, Mont. on the Northern Cheyenne reservation where she had come as a missionary more than 50 years ago.
In the tree-shaded yard of the Mennonite church in Ashland, Mont., where she had lived, friends and family and church representatives (too many to fit into the church building) gathered for the funeral.
The former Laura Rohrman, a Lutheran, was born Feb. 8, 1899, in Detroit. She had met her future husband, Valdo Petter, at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. Both of them had hoped to be missionaries in Africa, but that was delayed because of Valdo's ill health.
In the meantime, the couple were asked to serve temporarily at Ashland because of Valdo's knowledge of the Cheyenne language. His father was Rodolphe Petter, Swiss missionary and translator to the Northern and Southern Cheyenne. The temporary service stretched on until Valdo's death in 1934.
Mrs. Petter stayed in Ashland as a missionary, ministering in the community and enlarging her household with her own three small children by caring for at least 20 foster or adopted children. Although she retired from active mission work in 1965, she continued to care for children in her retirement home near Ashland until her death on Sept. 28.
The Mennonite obituary: 1976 Oct 19 p. 617
Text of obituary:
Laura Petter, Ashland (Mont.) Church, was born in February 1899 and died Sept. 28. She began missionary service under the General Conference's Board of Mission in 1924 at the Ashland Church on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. After the death of her husband in 1936, she continued serving there until her retirement in 1966. She was still living in Ashland at the time of her death.
[Note: The obituary was accompanied by a photo, but it was a photo of Bertha Kinsinger Petter, Laura's mother-in-law.]
The Mennonite obituary: 1976 Nov 2 p. 646
Text of obituary:
Laura Petter, Ashland (Mont.) Church, was born Feb. 8, 1899, and died Sept. 28. She began missionary service under the General Conference's Board of Missions in 1924 at the Ashland Church on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, continuing to serve there until her retirement in 1966.