Unruh, Myrtle Goering (1917-1996)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1996 Oct 3 p. 2

Birth date: 1917

text of obituary:

Longtime MCC Paraguay Worker Dies at Age 79

Myrtle Goering Unruh, a pioneer Mennonite Central Committee worker who served in the Paraguayan Chaco for 32 years, died Sept. 23 at the age of 79.

When Unruh and her husband, Robert, went to the Fernheim Colony in 1951, the Chaco was still the wild "Green Hell" where not even the indigenous peoples would live. The colony had no indoor plumbing and mail took as long as six months to arrive.

But when the Unruhs left in 1983, air conditioning, cars, tractors, hospitals and high schools had become the norm.

While her husband directed an experimental agricultural station, Unruh taught high school home economics, published a cookbook adapted for the Chaco and wrote and broadcast hints for the Chaco housewife. She was also active in nutrition programs for Indian women and organized a Bible study for young mothers that still functions today.

In Unruh's honor, a Filadelfia, Paraguay, radio station broadcast a memorial on Sept. 26, at the same time as her funeral service at Eden Mennonite Church, Moundridge, where she had been baptized and was a member. Burial was in the Eden cemetery.

Unruh was born near Moundridge, graduated from Bethel College in 1948 and married in 1949. In addition to her husband, survivors include one daughter, Elizabeth Leite, four grandchildren, four brothers and a sister.

The Mennonite obituary: 1996 Oct 22 p. 19