Thiessen, Lizzie Siemens (1886-1958)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1958 Mar 20 p. 5

Birth date: 1886 Nov 23

text of obituary:

Lifetime Resident At Buhler Dies

Buhler, Kan. — Funeral services for Mrs. Lizzie Thiessen, 71, a lifetime resident of this community, were held at the Buhler Mennonite Church on March 19. She died Saturday at Mercy Hospital, having been in ill health the past 12 years. Rev. Irvin Richert, Rev. P. T. Neufeld and Rev. John Thiessen of Newton officiated.

Mrs. Thiessen was born here Nov. 23, 1886. She died March 15 at Mercy Hospital in Moundridge.

Surviving are 12 children, 37 grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, five brothers and three sisters.

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Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1958 Mar 27 p. 8

text of obituary:

MRS. LIZZIE THIESSEN

Our mother and grandmother, Lizzie Thiessen, was born to Abraham and Elizabeth Rempel Siemens on Nov. 23, 1886, on a farm about four miles northeast of Buhler, Kan. She lost her mother through death at the age of five, but after a short time her father again found a mother for his children in Elizabeth Regier.

She was baptized on June 13, 1909, by Elder Abraham Martens and was received into the Hebron Mennonite Church, Buhler.

Before she was married she worked in different homes, spent two years nursing in the Bethesda Hospital at Goessel, Kansas and later spent several years in private nursing.

On April 6, 1919, she was married to Jacob J. Thiessen, and with this marriage she accepted the role of mother to his seven children. At the time of her marriage she transferred her church membership to the Bethel Mennonite Church, Inman, Kansas. To this marriage six children were born, two sons and four daughters.

The family moved to Meade, Kansas in 1923. One son, Solomon, passed away at the age of 13 years. Also preceding mother in death was her husband and our father, Jacob J. Thiessen, who departed this life 18 years later on Feb. 10, 1948.

On August 3, 1944, the family moved to Buhler and the next year she transferred her church membership to the Buhler Mennonite Church, where she remained a faithful member the rest of her life.

In the spring of 1946 mother suffered a stroke which left her partially paralyzed. Since then she had numerous recurrences of the stroke.

After the children had all grown up and left home she spent several years in the Inman Home for the Aged. The last four years and three months of her life she made her home with Mr. and Mrs. D. B. Neufelds in Buhler. During the last few months she spent a great deal of time reading her Bible from which she derived special comfort.

Mother suffered a hard stroke on Thursday evening at 9:30 which left her in a final coma. She passed away Saturday March 15, 1958, at 2:20 p. m. in the Mercy Hospital in Moundridge, Kansas.

Those left to mourn her departure are five sons, David E. of Meade, Jake E. of Inman, Pete E. of McPherson, Alvin of Peabody, and John of Troy, Mo.; seven daughters, Martha, Mrs. Isaac Harms of Meade, Lydia, Mrs. Russel Cunningham of Hutchinson, Elizabeth, Mrs. Elmer Franz of Inman, Anna, Mrs. Edward Leitner of Oberlin, Sara, Mrs. Roland Froese of Buhler, Bertha, Mrs. Robert Janzen of Buhler, Ruth, Mrs. Leland Schmidt of Reedley, Calif.; seven sons-in-law and five daughters-in-law; five brothers, Abe Siemens of Burrton, Leonard, Ben, Henry, and Alvin all of Buhler; three sisters, Mary, Mrs. D. A. Thiessen, Anna, Mrs. D. B. Neufeldt [sic Neufeld], and Katherine, Mrs. F. F. Gaeddert, all of Buhler; 35 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. — The Bereaved Family.