Weaver, Laura Johns (1883-1975)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1975 Feb 27 p. 11

Birth date: 1883 Dec 28

text of obituary:

MRS. SAMUEL E. WEAVER

Laura Johns Weaver, third child and only daughter of Jacob and Malinda (Mehl) Johns, was born in Lagrange County, Indiana on Dec. 28, 1883 and died Jan. 30, 1975, in suburban New York City at the age of 91. She was ill only one day, but during the past year had become ever more frail due to the infirmities of age.

She lost both parents by typhoid by the time she was 11 and by age 34 she had outlived her three brothers and two half-sisters. As an orphan she worked from home until her marriage on Aug. 25, 1904, to Samuel E. Weaver, a teacher and minister in the community.

Except for a few years in Goshen, Ind., they lived on several farms in LaGrange and Elkhart counties until his untimely death on Nov. 16, 1935. She later worked as a housekeeper on the Goshen College campus until failing health made retirement necessary. Since 1953 she had made her home with her son Arthur and family, first in Elkhart and for the past eight years in Rye, New York.

She is survived by son Arthur and wife Jean; two daughters and their husbands, Rachel and Leonard C. Kreider of Wadsworth, Ohio and Eunice and Robert B. Regier of Bartlesville, Okla.; a stepson, Stahly and wife Dorothy of Millersburg, Ind.; 13 children and 13 great-grandchildren. A daughter Esther died in infancy.

One of the high points of her life came a year ago when her widely-scattered family came from 11 states to help her celebrate her 90th birthday and to enjoy a happy day of fellowship and reminiscences. Her passing leaves a warm glow of benediction on them. Her gentle influence and example can remind them all their days of how to grow, how to be grateful, how to endure, how to serve.

She was a member of the Eighth Street Mennonite Church of Goshen for over 50 years. Paul Goering, the pastor, was in charge of the funeral services, held on Feb. 3. Interment was made in the Bontrager cemetery in rural Shipshewana.