Thiessen, John (1895-1967)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1967 Nov 23 p. 5

Birth date: 1895 Jun 26

text of obituary:

. . .

● John Thiessen, 72, retired farmer of Whitewater and a lifelong resident of that community, died Nov. 8 at Bethel Deaconess Hospital. The funeral was conducted Saturday afternoon at the Emmaus Church, of which he was a member, with Rev. L. R. Amstutz officiating. Survivors include his widow, Mary; two sons, Rev. Bernard Thiessen, missionary to Japan, and Herald [sic Harold] of rural Whitewater; three daughters, Mrs. Waldo C. Klaassen of rural Whitewater, Miss Susan Thiessen of Tauhla, Okla., and Mrs. John Pratt of Honolulu, Hawaii; two sisters and one brother.

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Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1967 Dec 14 p. 8

text of obituary:

JOHN THIESSEN

John Thiessen, our beloved husband, father and grandfather, peacefully fell asleep in the Lord Nov. 15 at the Bethel Deaconess Hospital, Newton, at the age of 72 years.

The youngest son of Heinrich and Agnetha Thiessen, he was born June 26, 1895, on a farm near Whitewater, Kan.

May 12, 1913, he was baptized upon confession of his faith and became a member of the Emmaus Mennonite Church, of which he was a faithful member until his death.

He was married to Helen Harder on June 26, 1917. She preceded him in death in 1939. To this happy union were born six children, and he tenderly filled the role of both mother and father through the difficult years right after our mother’s death. On May 12, 1944, he was married to Mary Ann Duerksen, with whom he spent 23 happy years. One son, Gilbert, also preceded him in death in 1962.

Throughout his life he dearly loved the Lord and his faith became greater through the hardships and sorrows he experienced. He left a great testimony by his love for his Lord and in the way he accepted trials as stepping stones to a deeper walk with the Lord. The chorus he often sang, and which gave him courage, was, “The Lord knows the way through the wilderness. All I have to do is follow.” He was not only concerned for his own family but showed deep concern that others might know his joy in the Lord.

He found great pleasure in farming to which he devoted his life on a farm east of Whitewater. Also, as he was able, he enjoyed travelling and especially visiting the children away from home. In 1965 it was with great delight that he and his wife could travel with their son Bernard and family to Hawaii as Bernards returned to Japan as missionaries. They spent two months visiting their daughter Dorothy and her husband in Hawaii.

For several years his health had been failing and death resulted from complications from a bleeding ulcer.

Those who will miss him the most are: his widow, Mary Ann; three daughters, Lydia, Mrs. Waldo Klaassen and husband of Whitewater, Susan, working with The “Go Ye” Mission, Tahlequah, Okla., Dorothy, Mrs. John Pratt and husband of Honolulu and wife Ruby, missionaries to japan, and Herald [sic Harold] and wife, Alice, Whitewater; Mrs. Mary Ann Thimmes, Vancouver, Wash.; 13 grandchildren; two sisters, Mrs. Ed Claassen, Whitewater, and Mrs. Alfred Wiebe, Orasi, Calif.; one brother, Jacob Thiessen, Whitewater; and many other relatives and friends. — The Family.

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The Mennonite obituary: 1967 Dec 5 p. 743

text of obituary:

John Thiessen, Emmaus Church, Whitewater, Kan., was born June 26, 1895, and died Nov. 15. He was the father of Bernard Thiessen, a missionary in Japan.