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Van der Smissen, Hillegonda Cornelia (1848-1949)
The Mennonite obituary: 1948 Jun 15 p. 8
Our sister Hillegonda van der Smissen is within the reach of her one hundredth mile stone (June 30), and we cannot help writing a few lines of appreciation concerning her.
Many will recall blessings received through her teaching, her poems and recitations, her stories and her visits; while others will remember the Sister who came to their room and read the Scriptures and prayed with them while they were patients in the Bethel Deaconess Hospital.
We, as Sisters, can hardly feature our institutions without Sister Hillegonda. She definitely fills an important place even now in our thinking and planning. Our hospital was opened and dedicated on June 11, 1908. At that time the first three Sisters, Sisters Frieda, Catherine and Ida were ordained. Eight months later, February 1, 1909, Sister Hillegonda arrived in answer to the call to take charge of the institution household as supervisor of the kitchen and dining room. Not only that, she was to assist in the spiritual service to the patients and probation Sisters as well. In this she proved most capable, efficient and congenial. She was a blessing to all, the patients, the Sisters, the students and her coworkers.
It would be difficult to voice our appreciation of Sister Hillegonda and express what she has meant and does mean to us. She possesses real Christian love for her fellow beings. She is interested in each one and remembers his particular responsibilities, encourages him and prays for him. She loves the Lord, loves people, and loves work. Besides that she has been blessed with unlimited patience and endurance. In social gatherings, personal visits and in any group meetings, we could always count Sister Hillegonda to fill any gap with her human interest stories from her own experience, with poems or with some scriptural teaching as might fit the occasion. No anniversary or celebration is complete without an original poem by our Sister. She is vitally interested in all affairs of the local church and of the kingdom of God, always ready, even at the age of one hundred to contribute whenever possible to any cause that promotes the cause of Christ. Being a deaconess, this particular field has always been her chief concern. How often have we heard the question: Haben sich einige gemeldet fuer den Diakonissendienst? (Has any one applied for the deaconess work); and when our answer is: Nocht nicht, (not yet) her reply is: Ach, wie schade! Das ist ja so eine gesegnete Arbeit. Wird Diakonissen-unterricht nicht mehr gegeben? (What a pity! This is such a blessed work. Have we discontinued deaconess instruction?) And then comes the assurance again that she presents all our needs to the Lord. It is His field and He will add His blessing.
We thank God for this handmaiden filled with the Spirit: this our Sister, our friend, our intercessor and our example. As we see her going with her brother, the Rev. C. H. van der Smissen (ninety-six years young!) for the daily walk we are grateful for the living example of God’s grace as manifested in our Sister.
A hundred years and yet growing as promised in II Cor. 3:18, . . . “with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
[Anyone interested is invited to the First Mennonite Church of Newton at 3:30 P. M. Wednesday, June 30, for a short program and social hour to celebrate Sister Hillegonda van der Smissen’s one-hundredth birthday. Guests will have an opportunity to write a word of greeting into the guest book rather than to shake hands and greet Sister Hillegonda personally. It would tire her too much to greet each one individually, but words of greetings in writing will be appreciated and enjoyed as she reads them later. — The Bethel Sisters
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1949 Oct 6 p. 1
Birth date: 1848 Jun 30
text of obituary:
Two Deaconesses Called by Death Last Week
SERVICES HELD FOR SISTER HILLEGONDA AND SISTER MARIE
The aged Sister Hillegonda van der Smissen, who reached the age of 101, and Sister Marie Lohrentz, 66, passed away last week at the Bethel Deaconess Hospital here, and funeral services for both were held at the Bethel Sisters Home and the First Mennonite church.
Sister Hillegonda, retired deaconess who observed her 101st birthday last June 30, died Thursday afternoon, Sept 29, and funeral services held Monday afternoon were in charge of Rev. J. E. Entz, assisted at the church by Rev. D. J. Unruh and Rev. J. F. Balzer. The graveside service at the Greenwood cemetery was in charge of Rev. A. J. Dyck.
Sister Marie Lohrentz passed to her reward Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 27, after being a patient at the hospital since July. Funeral services took place Friday afternoon, with Rev. J. E. Entz in charge at the Sisters Home and Rev. D. J. Unruh and Dr. E. G. Kaufman conducting the service at the church.
Sister Hillegonda was born at Friedrichstadt, Germany in 1848 and came to this country with her parents in 1868. She arrived in Newton during a big snowstorm in February, 1909, being 60 years of age when she took up deaconess work. She was the first member of the First Mennonite church to reach such an advanced age.
The only immediate relative surviving her is her brother, Rev. Carl H. van der Smissen, 97, of the Bethel Home for Aged.
Sister Marie was born near Moundridge on Jan. 1, 1883, and took up residence at the Nurses Home Nov. 1, 1911. She served as school nurse and girls' counselor at Bethel college from 1936 to September of last year.
She is survived by four sisters and three brothers.
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1949 Oct 13 p. 3
text of obituary:
SISTER HILLEGONDA CORNELIA VAN DER SMISSEN
To her many friends, Sister Hillegonda needs no introduction, but it will encourage us to hear again how this Sister for more than 101 years lived her life.
Born in Friedrichstadt, Germany on June 30, 1848, she is the daughter of the Mennonite pastor, Rev. C. J. van der Smissen and his wife, Sarah Cornelia, nee van der Smissen. Her parents were descendants of a Flemish nobleman, a city councilman of Brussels who, in those days of religious persecution, left wealth and worldly advantages to be a follower of Christ according to the dictates of his conscience.
Sister Hillegonda was privileged to spend a most happy childhood and youth in her native city. Here she also attended the elementary schools and received her further education under the tutorship of her mother, an able teacher.
When she was twenty years old, her father accepted a call to the United States of America as the teacher of theology at the Mennonite Seminary in Wadsworth, Ohio. Rev. van der Smissen and his wife, accompanied by Wilhelmina and Hillegonda, the two daughters still at home, landed in New York on December 8, 1868.
Ten years later, Sister Hillegonda went to Hayesville, Ohio with her parents, where her father served as pastor of a Mennonite congregation until his death in 1890. About a year later, the widowed mother moved to Summerfield, Ill., in order to be near her son, the Rev. C. H. van der Smissen. Sister Hillegonda surrounded her mother with tender care, and after the mother's death, continued to live in Summerfield.
In 1885 and again after the death of her parents, Sister Hillegonda had the privilege to visit her native homeland. In her own words, "It has been my privilege to travel extensively in my lifetime and always on these trips I have experienced much love, kindness, and joy."
In the fall of 1908, the newly established Bethel Deaconess Home and Hospital at Newton, Kansas, extended a call to her to take charge of the institution household as supervisor of the kitchen and dining room and to assist in the spiritual service to the patients and probation sisters. Siser Hillegonda was then sixty years old but versatile and in good physical health.
She accepted the call for six months on a trial basis, closed her home temporarily, and arrived in Newton in a great snowstorm on February 1, 1909. Due to the fact that she had ten years of experience in Wadsworth in administering an institution household, she was able to adjust herself to her new surroundings and duties in a remarkably short time. And soon she also found the necessary inner joy to become a member of the small Sisterhood.
On September 16, 1909, she received the deaconess garb with the first group of probation sisters and immediately following her investment, was consecrated as a deaconess by the Rev. Gustav Harder of Whitewater, a member of the board of directors. Jeremiah 31:3 was given her as her ordination verse: "Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee."
Since then Sister Hillegonda has lived an abundant life as a member of our Sisterhood. She served well in proving the food for our tables, but she did much more. How well we remember her poems — ready for every occasion; many will bless her as a Sunday school teacher, others remember her as the editor of the women's section in one of our church papers, many will recall how interestingly she would read or tell stories during the quilting hours, canning time, or in social groups; many patients will remember the Sister who came to their bedside to read Scripture and to pray with them.
Probably the most outstanding feature of Sister Hillegonda's life was her gratefulness in all things and her prayer life. We sw her on her knees praying for needy ones, for missionaries, for friends, and for those who had spoken hastily or unkindly. We shall never forget those folded hands, that radiant face, and those fervent prayers in rhyme or prose but always coming from a heart filled with the love of God.
Her testimony in her own words reads: "Der Herr hat mich wunderbar gefuhrt, aber gnadig! Er hat mich je and je geliebt, mich su sich gezogen aus lauter Gute; getragen mit lagmut und Geduld. Bei dem Herrn ist die Gnade und viel Vergebung bei Ihm."
Her last words only a few minutes before her home going were: "Gelobt sei Jesus Christus! Gelobt sei Gott! Amen."
She departed this life on Thursday, Sept. 29, 1949, at 3:30 p. m. Funeral services were held Monday, Oct 3, 1949, at 2:30 p.m. at the First Mennonite church of Newton, with Rev. J. E. Entz, Rev. J. F. Balzer, and Rev. D. J. Unruh participating in the services.
The Mennonite obituary: 1949 Oct 11 p. 10
Into the Beyond
. . .
SISTER HILLEGONA C. VAN DER SMISSEN, Newton, Deaconess for 40 years, writer, poet, Sunday School teacher, member of First Mennonite Church, Newton, born June 30, 1848, and died September 29, 1949, at age of 101 years, 3 months.