Walter, Jacob R. (1910-1972)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1972 Aug 10 p. 10

Birth date: 1910 Sep 18

text of obituary:

Son of Bishop-Historian

Hutterite Minister Dies By Rev. Paul S. Gross

ESPANOLA, WASH. — The sudden death here of Jacob R. Walter, 61, minister of the Standoff Hutterite Coloney [sic Colony] at Fort Macleod, Alberta, was a shock to the brethren and his family.

While here with his wife and part of his family as a temporary resident to negotiate with a landowner on a purchase deal, he was stricken suddenly and rushed to the Odessa Hospital. After five days in the hospital in an unconscious condition, he died on July 6.

The Espanola Hutterite Colony made arrangements to return the body to Canada. Funeral and burial services were held at the Standoff Colony, with a great gathering of people in attendance. Rev. Paul Walter of Montana officiated.

BORN SEPT. 18, 1910 in the Freeman, S. D. district, Minister Walter served in the ministry for 30 years. He leaves his wife, five sons and two daughters, as well as two older brothers and five older sisters.

Minister Walter was a son of the late well-known bishop Elias Walter who was a great historian of Mennonite-Hutterite literature. In 1888 Bishop Walter got in contact with the later Dr. John Horsch, well-known Mennonite historian, and formed an unforgettable friendship between the two groups. Is [sic] was through Horsch and Walter that the European world learned of the existence of the Hutterite in America. Their correspondence has been preserved in the Goshen College Historical Library.

The father also kept up a stream of correspondence with such great historians as Dr. Johann Loserth of Gratz and Eberhard Arnold of the Society of Brothers, whom he baptized, elected and ordained as a minister, with the co-authors of the Mennonite Lexicon, Christian Hege and Neff of the Weierhof, Palatinate, (Pfalz) and latest of all with Dr. Robert Friedmann and the late Harold S. Bender and his wife Elizabeth.

IN HIS LIFETIME, Bishop Walter wrote and copied innumerable volumes of Hutterite literature, i.e. sermon books, epistle and article books, songbooks, etc., which are still in possession of the family. through much pain, effort and expense he brought it about that the most important literature was published by Mennonite publishing firms, which is now used in churches and homes.

Dr. Robert Friemann considered the bishop to be a man of the greatest dedication to a revival of the old genuine Hutterite spirit. A man of indefatigable activity, he as a bishop and leader in the true sense of the word, concerned at all times for the spiritual needs of the group.