Petter, Valdo (1895-1935)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1935 May 6 p. 1

Birth date: 1895 Jul 26

text of obituary:

Sad News From the Montana Mission Field.

The following message has just arrived from Ashland, Mont.:

“Dr. J. W. Kliewer:

Valdo Petter gone home to glory. Funeral Ashland May 9th. p.m., asked to inform mission Board.

P. A. Kliewer”

While it is impossible for any of us to go there to attend the funeral, let us remember the family in our prayers, especially also the parents, who are already on the way to Europe. May the Lord comfort them all.

Nest Sunday will be an appropriate time to make intercession in our churches. — P. H. Richert.

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Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1935 May 29 p. 1

text of obituary:

Funeral For Rev. Petter Conducted by Rev. Habegger.

Berne, Ind., May 23. — The David Habegger family here received a letter several days ago from their son, Rev. Alfred Habegger of Busby, Montana, in which he gave an account of the recent death of Rev. Valdo Petter, Mennonite missionary among the Cheyenne Indians in Montana and a son of Dr. and Mrs. Rudolphe [sic Rodolphe] Petter, pioneer missionaries among the Cheyenne tribe.

Rev. Petter had been in rather poor health, and had been planning for a year's leave to regain health. On Saturday, May 4th, Rev. Petter was still about his work at the church. During Saturday night he began to feel ill and did not get up Sunday morning as usual. A physician was called and the young minister was found to be anemic. Pneumonia immediately developed and on Monday evening, May 6 he passed away.

Rev. Habegger conducted three funeral services for him; one for the Cheyenne Indians, another for the white folk at Ashland and still another at Lame Deer.

Rev. Petter, since childhood, was able to command the English, German, French and Cheyenne languages and his death is a severe blow to the missionary work started by his father, who has become famous for his translation of the English New Testament into Sheyenne [sic Cheyenne]. — Berne Witness.

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The Mennonite obituary: 1935 Jun 18 p. 21

Text of obituary:

OBITUARY OF REV. VALDO PETTER

Missionary to Northern Cheyennes at Ashland, Mont.

Missionary Valdo Petter was born July 26, 1895, at Darlington, Oklahoma. He was the son of Missionary Rodolphe Petter and Marie Gerber Petter, whose home was at Cantonment, Okla., near Canton, where missionaries Rev. and Mrs. G. A. Linscheid are stationed at present.

Valdo Petter grew to young manhood at Cantonment. He received his early education from his parents, and also by attending a school for white children for a short time. He often accompanied his parents and sister Olga on their long journeys over the mission field among the Cheyenne Indians. These were made by wagon and team in those days.

His mother became ill with tuberculosis, which disease is common among the Indians. After fourteen years of sickness she passed away July 31, 1910, and was buried in the Indian cemetery at Cantonment.

In May 1909 the Petters had gone to Kettle Falls, Wash., in quest of health for Mrs. Petter. They procured a small fruit ranch of some ten acres in the Columbia River valley, where health and climate conditions are very inviting. Rev. Rodolphe Petter who had been working steadfastly on his mastery of the Cheyenne language, was bothered with hay fever, moved with his two children to Kettle Falls in 1913 to print the Cheyenne dictionary on the multigraph machine. Valdo did the type setting, while his father did the preparing of the manuscript and proof reading. This work was completed in the fall of 1915. This exacting work was a great strain on the eyesight of Valdo Petter, and left him with weakened eyes.

After the death of his mother, Valdo and his sister attended school at Newton, Kans., attending first the public school and then the Academy of Bethel College. After the dictionary mentioned above was printed, he enrolled in the University of Washington.

When the United States declared war on Germany, April 6, 1917, Valdo volunteered the next day, April 7, in the non-combatant service of the medical corps. He was stationed at Camp Lewis, State of Washington, and later at Allentown, Pa., and was then sent overseas to do service at the front. This strenuous service midst the extreme human suffering and the awful horrors of war made a deep impression on him. He served in the medical corps for two years, returning home in 1919, for he was with the Army of Occupation for some months after the war was over.

After his return home he enrolled for a two year course in the Moody Bible Institute. While there he met Miss Laura Rohrman of Detroit, Mich., to whom he was married September 25, 1923, at Lame Deer, Mont. The Rev. P. A. Kliewer, now of Bluffton, O., then missionary armong the North Cheyennes, performed the ceremony. After their marriage they went to Kettle Falls, Wash., living in the house of his father. For three months he served as pastor of the Presbyterian church near there.

In October 1924, they were called to take over the work at Ashland, Mont., among the North Cheyennes. After some years as an evangelist he was ordained by his father as a minister and elder, so he might perform marriages and officiate in all matters pertaining to the work of the church.

At the time he accepted the call to the mission field he did not wish to assume full duties, due to the fact that he was not well. He had trouble with his nerves, often had sleepless nights, when he would toss about and see the terrible war scenes move by in his mind. During all these years of service he has been doing all he could for the Indians. He knew the Cheyenne language from childhood up, having learned it in playing with Indian children, and also in his printing the Cheyenne dictionary. He kept the mission station attractive and in good order, and proclaimed the Word of God in all sincerity and love.

Feeling his health failing, he had asked for a furlough last year, but due to the depression and other difficulties it was not granted until this spring. Then there were difficulties in getting a substitute. All along he felt his strength lessening. He with his family went to see his father, Rev. R. Petter, and wife off on April 3, at Forsyth, Mont., when his parents started on their trip to Europe. This was but two weeks before his death. He told his dear wife about this time that he did not think that he could hold out on an overland trip if they did go on a furlough. In a letter, written April 25, to Rev. Habegger he says, "If God does not want us to go, we know He will keep us here. On the other hand we know that He will open the door wide if we are go to.—So the matter is fully in His hands, and we await His decision."

On Saturday, May 4, the same day his parents boarded the steamer Champlain at New York, Valdo did his work about the place, and assisted an Indian woman to scrub the church. Towards evening he complained of pain all over and of an extreme weariness and exhaustion. He had a restless night, and was unable to get up in the morning. It worried him so much that he could not preach to the Indians as he had planned. A doctor was called from the C. C. C. Camp not many miles off, who pronounced his sickness as pernicious anemia. All medications seemed of no avail. A nurse was sent for Monday, and the doctor was called again Monday P. M. The patient began to complain of a choking sensation and his lungs began to fill rapidly with pneumonia. He could only talk in a whisper. When Mrs. Petter mentioned that he might go home to his mother, he seemed rather surprised, but then said: "Shall I die?" When she said, "Do just as you like," he answered: "I guess I might just as well die." He felt that he might be an invalid for life, and so welcomed release. He was a devoted husband and father, and a devoted missionary to the Cheyennes.

His sister Olga and her husband, P. F. Schroeder, of Colville, Wn., [sic] came overland for the funeral. Edward Rohrman, brother to Mrs. Petter, came from Detroit, Mich. Christian friends, white folks living at Ashland, and Mrs. Habegger of Busby, helped Mrs. Petter Tuesday and Wednesday in preparations for the funeral, and in receiving the numerous callers, both Indians and whites.

Rev. Habegger of Busby was in charge of the funeral services. The first was Thursday at 10:30 A. M. for the Cheyennes. This service was all in the Indian language. Many a sad Indian woman shed bitter tears when they beheld their beloved friend for the last time. Milton Whiteman of Lame Deer sang a Cheyenne solo, and gave the obituary in the Cheyenne language. Words of comfort were based on Romans 8:31-39.

The second service was at 12:30 P. M. for the white friends at Ashland. The church was well filled. The American Legion post of that place sat in a body and contributed a beautiful floral offering. There were numerous and beautiful floral offerings from friends and neighbors, showing that Rev. Petter was highly esteemed by the white people of Ashland. Rev. Oliver of the Methodist church at Ashland read the Scripture passage I Cor. 15:45-58 and offered prayer, Rev. Habegger preached the funeral sermon, emphasizing the thought given in the passage read, especially verse 57: "But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

The body was then taken to Lame Deer, where at 3:30 P. M. another service was held. The church was filled with a mixed crowd of whites and Indians, friends of Valdo and his parents. Several additional floral offerings from Lame Deer friends were added to the ones displayed at Ashland. Here words of comfort were directed especially to the bereaved ones, and attention was called to the great assurance we have in Christ Jesus, that nothing in life or death, in time or eternity can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Words of comfort were based on Romans 8:38-39. A few remarks were also made in Cheyenne by Milton Whiteman, and the obituary read in both English and Cheyenne. Special music was given at both the Ashland and Lame Deer services.

The casket was furnished by the government, as Valdo was a veteran of the World War, as mentioned in this report above. A large American flag was placed over his casket. Attention was called at all services to the fact that Valdo served the Lord while serving his country, that he was a citizen of a better country, and that love to God and his fellowmen was the urge that moved him wherever he was.

Burial was made in the Lame Deer cemetery, near his dear departed friends, Eugene Standingelk and Anna Wolfname, both loyal and staunch Christians of his father's church. Thus his earthly remains rest with his North Cheyenne friends, as his mother's rest with the South Cheyennes. So in death as in life he is associated with the people with whom the major part of his life has been intimately connected. His grave will remind them long of his love and devotion to them, and this in turn will remind them of the love and mercy of the heavenly Father as we know it through Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Valdo had in the last months of his life become intensely interested in the stars and heavenly bodies. He procured maps of the sky and books on astronomy and marveled, that He who made the heavens should be so interested in us small human beings. He felt very humble before the Lord of heaven and earth. He trusted in His Lord, that He would guide him aright, as unerringly as He guides the stars in their paths. Now that he has passed out of time into the glorious eternity to be with Him who died for Him, may we all gain inspiration from his life.

He leaves to mourn his departure, his devoted wife, three children: David, Amy, and Daniel, one sister, Olga, wife of P. F. Schroeder, and his father, Rodolphe Petter, now in Europe, with Mrs. Petter, also one nephew, son of his sister, and a host of friends, both Indians and whites. His age was 39 years, 9 months, 10 days. He served as missionary 10 1/2 years.