Schantz, Alta Alfreda (1918-2006)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2006 Aug 28 p. 12

Birth date: 1918 Feb 2

text of obituary:

ALTA SCHANTZ

Alta Alfreda Schantz, 88, lifelong resident of Hydro, Okla., died Aug. 19, 2006, at Corn Heritage Nursing Center in Weatherford. She was born Feb. 2, 1918, in San Antonio, Texas.

Her father died in a railroad accident south of Wichita, Kan., in late 1917. Her mother died when she was born, leaving her in the care of an aunt. For reasons not known for certain, her aunt left her at an orphanage in Oklahoma City.

In June 1918, she was adopted by John J. and Catherine Stutzman Johns and grew up on a farm five miles northwest of Hydro. Her adopted father died of typhoid on Aug. 31, 1918, leaving her mother to raise her and her older brother Paul.

She attended Hopewell school through the eighth grade. As a youth, she accepted Christ as her Savior and was baptized by Bishop Alva Swartzendruber on May 3, 1931. She became a lifelong member of Pleasant View Mennonite Church.

She married William C. Schantz on Feb. 20, 1953. They lived on the farm with her mother until she died in June 1954. That summer they moved to the farm where her husband grew up and raised their family there.

Survivors include her children, Joe Johns and his wife, Glenna, of Weatherford, Eddie Schantz of Oklahoma City, Mary Ralston and her husband, Steve, Stanley Schantz and his wife, Orvilla, and Carol Wichert and her husband, Steve, all of Weatherford; a niece, Fern Bachman of Kalona, Iowa; eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Bill, in 2000, and a brother, Paul, in 1976.