Sawatzky, Victor (1914-1999)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1999 Jun 3 p. 7

Birth date: 1914 Jan 20

Text of obituary:

VICTOR SAWATZKY

Victor Sawatzky was born in Herbert, Sask., to Jacob F. and Cornelia (Klassen) Sawatzky on Jan. 20, 1914, and died May 4, 1999, in North Newton, Kan.

He dates his conversion to when he was 12 years old. He was baptized by his father three years later, Aug. 18, 1929. The family moved to Bloomfield, Mont., in 1928. He graduated from Richey (Mont.) High School, and a year later went to Minneapolis, Minn., where he enrolled at Northwestern Bible School and Seminary, from which he graduated with a Th. B. degree June 4, 1937. At this school he met Ruth Louise Phifer, and they were married Aug. 11, 1936.

Victor was ordained to the gospel ministry Oct. 24, 1937, in Wisner, Neb., and as an elder May 28, 1939 in Butterfield, Minn. He was a pastor for 35 years in General Conference Mennonite congregations in Wisner, Butterfield and Kansas — Hutchinson, Pawnee Rock, Newton (Faith), and Hillsboro (Trinity). While at Butterfield he also taught for six years in the Mountain Lake Bible School. When the family moved to Kansas in 1945, he enrolled at Bethel College, North Newton, and graduated in 1948.

From 1962 to 1979 Victor was executive secretary of the Mennonite Aid Union of Kansas. He was the first director of Camp Mennoscah and served on the board of Bethel Deaconess Hospital in Newton. His hobby was woodcarving. Many of his pieces reflect biblical themes and childhood memories.

He is survived by his wife, Ruth; three daughters, Eleanor Wiebe and her husband, Paul, of Upland, Calif., Pauline Buhr and her husband, Martin, of Kitchener, Ont., and Phyllis Friesen and her husband, Ron, of Bluffton, Ohio; two sons, Sheldon and his wife, Marietta, and Tim and his wife, Lela Mae, both of North Newton, Kan.; 15 grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; two sisters, Annie Deckert of North Newton and Kate Schultz of Glendive, Mont.; and three brothers, Benjamin of North Newton, Reynold of Goshen, Ind., and Gordon of Greeley, Colo.

He was preceded in death by a sister, Mathilda; and two brothers, Harry and John.