Toevs, Jacob Cornelius (1893-1958)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1959 Feb 12 p. 8

Birth date: 1893 Dec 26

text of obituary:

JACOB C. TOEVS

Our husband and father, Jacob Cornelius Toevs, was born near Newton, Kan. on Dec. 26, 1893, the third child of the late Rev. John and Agatha Suderman Toevs.

He attended the rural Kellas school and the German Bible school near Newton until the age of 13.

In 1907 the Toevs family together with a group of settlers moved west and established a Mennonite settlement near Aberdeen, Idaho.

At the age of 17, he was baptized upon confession of his faith by Elder Baer and joined the Homestead Mennonite Church in Idaho. Continual religious instruction and guidance in the home deepened his faith in his Maker all during his younger life. The illness and death of his older brother, Herman, led the family closer to their Lord and Master.

Because of love for the farm and farming since early in life he attended the Agricultural College in Boise, Idaho, after high school. Later he assisted his father in extensive farming operations. In 1917 he entered the service, serving in the Medical Corps of the U. S. Army.

After his discharge in 1919, he was married to Marie Claassen of Whitewater, Kan., who shared joys and sorrows with him for 39 years. This union was blessed with five children, one twin daughter, Elanor [sic Eleanor], passing away in infancy.

They established their home on a farm near Whitewater. Here they farmed except for the years 1930 and 1936 at which time they lived in Idaho. His years on the farm were happy ones. We remember him for his thoroughness in all that he undertook. The pride of work well done and the conscientious completion of a task is something which he impressed upon his children.

In 1944 he and his wife were privileged to celebrate their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary with family and friends.

Ten years ago, in 1948, he suffered the first of four strokes, each one leaving him a little more disabled. After health did not permit him to farm the land, he left the farm in 1956 to move to Newton. He bought a home there and enjoyed daily walks to town and visiting with relatives and friends.

On Dec. 24, he suffered another stroke which left him unable to swallow any liquids or food. His speech was also impaired. He entered the hospital on Dec. 26 on his sixty-fifth birthday. Efforts to help him regain his strength failed and the Lord took him to his heavenly home at 4:30 p. m. on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 1958.

We will miss our husband and father very much. His love for his family and his grandchildren will linger in our hearts for a long time. His spiritual concern for his children was shown by the continual emphasis he placed on the necessity of living a practical every day Christianity.

He leaves to mourn his bereaved wife, Marie; one daughter, Edna Ruth and husband Jessie Krehbiel of Wichita; three sons, Kenneth and wife Rosella, Herman and wife Bertha of Whitewater, and Arthur of the home; eight grandchildren; his aged mother, Mrs. Agatha Toevs of Mt. Lake, Minn.; two brothers Ed and John of Washington; two sisters, Mrs. Frank Wenger and husband of Abderdeen, Idaho, and Mrs. William Piper and Dr. Piper of Minnesota, and a sister-in-law, Mrs. Herman Schmidt of Newton, and a great number of other relatives and friends.

Funeral services were held Friday, Jan. 2, 1959, at1:00 p. m. at the Moody Funeral Chapel in Newton, and at 2:30 p. m. at the Emmaus Mennonite Church. The pastor, L. R. Amstutz officiated. He was assisted by Rev. H. J. Dyck of Elbing.

Burial was in the Emmaus Cemetery. — The Family.

NOTE: The GRANDMA entry #243874 gives his birth date as 26 Dec 1894 citing the Emmaus Mennonite Church, Whitewater, Kansas, Record Book 1888 Bd. Ms. 49, page 157.