If this site was useful to you, we'd be happy for a small donation. Be sure to enter "MLA donation" in the Comments box.
Shelly, Maynard (1925-2009)
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
''Mennonite Weekly Review'' obituary: 2009 Aug 17 p. 3 |
''Mennonite Weekly Review'' obituary: 2009 Aug 17 p. 3 |
||
| − | Birth date: 1925 |
+ | Birth date: 1925 Feb 3 |
| + | |||
| + | text of obituary: |
||
| + | |||
| + | <center><font size="+2">'''Magazine editor faced issues with courage'''</font></center> |
||
| + | |||
| + | <center><font size="+1">Shelly guided 'The Mennonite' through the '60s</font></center> |
||
| + | |||
| + | <font size="1">By Mennonite Weekly Review staff</font> |
||
| + | |||
| + | NORTH NEWTON, Kan. — Maynard Shelly, who confronted contentious issues with firm conviction as editor of ''The Mennonite'' during the 1960s, died Aug. 7. He was 84. |
||
| + | |||
| + | [[Image:Shelly_maynard_2009.jpg|200px|right]] Shelly edited the General Conference Mennonite Church's weekly denominational magazine from 1961 to 1971. |
||
| + | |||
| + | By addressing the controversies of that turbulent era, Shelly changed the way church members perceived the publication, said Robert Regier of North newton, who did layout and artwork for ''The Mennonite'' from 1959 to 1963. |
||
| + | |||
| + | "Maynard was very interested in social issues and worked very hard at trying to fuse faith and action," said Regier, a longtime art professor at Bethel College. "He saw this as a very important dimension of his understanding of the Anabaptist faith." |
||
| + | |||
| + | Two key issues for Shelly while editor were the Vietnam War and racial injustice, Regier said. |
||
| + | |||
| + | "He tried to engage those two issues and bring them before the leadership in a variety of ways," Regier said. "Maynard's vision took the magazine in a direciton that created a little more conflict than had been experienced." |
||
| + | |||
| + | ''The Mennonite'''s content had been more devotional for a readership with a broad range of theological perspectives, he said. |
||
| + | |||
| + | "Maynard moved it a little bit more into a prophetic role," Regier said. "His editorials became more of a commentary on social-political types of issues, rather than a more personal piety." |
||
| + | |||
| + | Vern Preheim of Newton, GC Peace and Social Concerns secretary from 1962 to 1965, recalls Shelly's courage in the midst of conflict. |
||
| + | |||
| + | "He did a good job, but caught a lot of fire for his strong anti-Vietnam War stance," said Preheim, who later served as the denomination's general secretary. "He was very courageous and followed his convictions." |
||
| + | |||
| + | After leaving ''The Mennonite'' in 1971, Shelly and his wife, Griselda Gehman Shelly — to whom he had been married since Sept. 7, 1945 — served with Mennonite Central Committee in Bangladesh. Staying until 1974, they worked on a development program with refugees affected by a 1970 cyclone and war between East and West Pakistan. |
||
| + | |||
[[Category:Mennonite Weekly Review obituaries]] |
[[Category:Mennonite Weekly Review obituaries]] |
||
Revision as of 16:26, 14 September 2011
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2009 Aug 17 p. 3
Birth date: 1925 Feb 3
text of obituary:
By Mennonite Weekly Review staff
NORTH NEWTON, Kan. — Maynard Shelly, who confronted contentious issues with firm conviction as editor of The Mennonite during the 1960s, died Aug. 7. He was 84.
By addressing the controversies of that turbulent era, Shelly changed the way church members perceived the publication, said Robert Regier of North newton, who did layout and artwork for The Mennonite from 1959 to 1963.
"Maynard was very interested in social issues and worked very hard at trying to fuse faith and action," said Regier, a longtime art professor at Bethel College. "He saw this as a very important dimension of his understanding of the Anabaptist faith."
Two key issues for Shelly while editor were the Vietnam War and racial injustice, Regier said.
"He tried to engage those two issues and bring them before the leadership in a variety of ways," Regier said. "Maynard's vision took the magazine in a direciton that created a little more conflict than had been experienced."
The Mennonite's content had been more devotional for a readership with a broad range of theological perspectives, he said.
"Maynard moved it a little bit more into a prophetic role," Regier said. "His editorials became more of a commentary on social-political types of issues, rather than a more personal piety."
Vern Preheim of Newton, GC Peace and Social Concerns secretary from 1962 to 1965, recalls Shelly's courage in the midst of conflict.
"He did a good job, but caught a lot of fire for his strong anti-Vietnam War stance," said Preheim, who later served as the denomination's general secretary. "He was very courageous and followed his convictions."
After leaving The Mennonite in 1971, Shelly and his wife, Griselda Gehman Shelly — to whom he had been married since Sept. 7, 1945 — served with Mennonite Central Committee in Bangladesh. Staying until 1974, they worked on a development program with refugees affected by a 1970 cyclone and war between East and West Pakistan.
