Suckau, Lulu O. Johnston (1885-1962)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1962 Dec 13 p. 5

Birth date: 1885 Aug 25

text of obituary:

. . .

• Mrs. Lulu O. Suckau, widow of Dr. C. H. Suckau, died Monday at Ligonier, Pa. where she had resided with a daughter, Mrs. Edna R. Gerstner. The body has been returned here for burial, and graveside services have been tentatively arranged for 3 p.m. Saturday in Greenwood Cemetery with Rev. John Thiessen officiating. Dr. and Mrs. Suckau, formerly of Newton, served as missionaries to India from 1909 to 1928. Upon their return they resided at Berne, Ind. where Dr. Suckau was pastor of the First Mennonite Church for a number of years. In 1943 he was instrumental in the founding of Grace Bible Institute, Omaha, Neb., and served as the first president of the school. Surviving in addition to the daughter in Pennsylvania is a son, Dr. J. W. Theodore Youngs at Bloomington, Ind.

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Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1962 Dec 20 p. 5

text of obituary:

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• Rev. John Thiessen officiated at graveside services for Mrs. Lulu O. Suckau of Saturday afternoon in Greenwood Cemetery. The widow of Rev. C. H. Suckau and a former resident here, she died Dec. 10 at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Edna Gerstner, at Ligonier, Pa. a sister-in-law, Miss Marie Suckau, is a resident of the Bethel Home here.

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Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1963 Jan 3 p. 8

text of obituary:

MRS. LULU O. SUCKAU

Lulu O. Suckau was born on a farm near Carrollton, Ohio on August 25, 1885. Following the tragic death of her father, John Johnston [Johnson ?] her mother, Rachel, remarried and the family moved to Iowa.

When the time came to choose a career, she selected teaching and taught in her home town of Lynneville, Iowa. While she was taking some courses in teachers training school, her mother became critically ill. As she took the train home, she vowed to God that if her mother recovered she would become a missionary.

Following her mother's recovery she remembered her vow and with zeal dedicated herself to her new goal. She broke an engagement to marry a man who did not share her new deep spiritual interest. It was while she was pursuing missionary studies of the Union Missionary Training School, Brooklyn, N. Y. that she met Cornelius H. Suckau who shared her zeal for missionary work, and they were married on June 24, 1909.

The first phase of their united ministry consisted of pioneer missionary work under the Foreign Mission Board of the General Conference Mennonite Church. Together Dr. and Mrs. Suckau started the pioneer missionary outpost of Korba in the Central Province of India. Most of the medical work was carried on at the outpost by Mrs. Suckau who supervised the local dispensary in addition to working with the Bible women. She served in India with her husband for 19 years.

In 1928, due to a number of health problems, the Suckaus were forced to remain in the United States. Dr. Suckau was then called to serve the First Mennonite Church in Berne, Ind. Mrs. Suckau shared the duties of this large pastorate of over 1,000 members, the largest in its denomination for 15 years.

Finally, her circle of service was completed when Cornelius Suckau was called to be president of Grace Bible Institute on Jan. 1, 1944. Even after her husband's death on Nov. 12,1951, she continued to live in their home opposite the Grace Bible Institute campus.

Her life was marked by her gift for making and keeping true friendships. Her children remember her as a young mother in India insisting that they struggle with piano lessons and learn to sing and play, among others, her favorite hymn, “In The City Four Square.” After a lingering illness of over a year, God called her Home on Monday, Dec. 10, 1962.

The Mennonite obituary: 1963 Jan 8 p. 27

? Was her maiden name Johnston or Johnson?