Toews, Stewart Keith (1951-1955)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1955 Aug 11 p. 1

Birth date: 1951 Sep 21

text of obituary:

FOUR-YEAR-OLD BOY KILLED AS HE FALLS UNDER ROLLING TRACTOR

Whitewater, Kansas. — Funeral services were held at the Emmanuel [sic Emmaus] Mennonite church Saturday afternoon, Aug. 6, for the four-year-old Stewart K. Toevs [sic Toews], son of Mr. and Mrs. Novalis Toves [sic Toews], who was killed when he fell under his father’s tractor.

The tractor had been parked in the farmyard and Steward [sic Stewart] apparently released the brake. When the machine began to roll the lad either jumped or fell and was crushed underneath the rear wheel. He lived only a few minutes after the accident.

Surviving are the grief-stricken parents, one sister, Marna Jane, the paternal grandmother, Mrs. N. J. Toevs [sic Toews], Mountain Lake, Minn., and the maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. C. B. Thierstein, Whitewater.

The funeral services were in charge of Rev. L. R. Amstutz, pastor of the Emmaus church.

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Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1955 Aug 18 p. 8

test of obituary:

STEWART KEITH TOEWS

Stewart Keith Toews, son of Mr. and Mrs. Novalis Toews, was born on Sept. 21, 1951, in the Bethel Deaconess hospital in Newton. He lived the first year and a half with his parents in Hutchinson where his father taught school. The family moved to Whitewater to the farm in the spring of 1953.

Stewart dearly loved his home and parents, the farm and the outdoors. He played outside winter and summer. In his play he was always doing the same things with his toys that his daddy was doing in the field. He enjoyed the garden and the many flowers, picking even the tiniest flowers to give to his mother or some other family member.

Stewart loved his little sister, Marna Jane. Carefully he watched over her, knowing at all times where she was. It was a joy to see them walk, holding hands, to and from their play.

Stewart enjoyed his grandma and grandpa. Often he asked to go to visit them and his uncles Eldred and Gerald Thierstein. He was happy for the times we could go visit Gerald at College. Eldred was one of his special friends. Stewart often talked about the grandma in Minnesota. Proudly he wore the shirt she sewed for him last winter. Sewart [sic Stewart] loved Oma, his great-grandmother, in a special way too.

Stewart loved Sunday school, his teacher, and all the children. Occasionally he would ask how soon Sunday would come. He enjoyed the Bible stories and often asked to be told his favorite ones. Sunday, too, meant sitting at the front of the church with his song-leader, daddy. Here, too, he will be missed not only by his daddy, but by the congregation.

Stewart was almost four years old when he finished with his life and was called to be with Jesus. He died on August 4, 1955, as the result of a tractor accident. Somehow he released the brake on a parked tractor, and losing his balance, he fell under the wheel of the moving tractor.

He will be remembered with his short life by his parents; his sister Marna Jane; his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. C. B. Thierstein; his grandmother, Mrs. N. J. Toews; his two uncles, Eldred and Gerald Thierstein; his great-grandmother, Mrs. G. H. Regier, Sr., other relatives, and a host of friends both small and large.

It has given us pain to part with Stewart, but we rest in the great hope that we will see him in glory. — The Family.