Yoder, Robert H. (1922-2004)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2004 Jul 19 p. 11

Birth date: 1922 Dec 29

text of obituary:

ROBERT H. YODER

Robert H. Yoder, 81, died June 21, 2004. He was born Dec. 29, 1922.

He was born and lived his early years in Tuleta, Texas, moving to Sheridan, Ore., as a teenager.

He joined Civilian Public Service during World War II. From 1945 to 1947 he served as a forest fire fighter in California, worked in Glazier National Park in Montana and served a year as an orderly in Delaware State Mental Hospital. After the war he volunteered to work under the Coast Guard and worked on a ship taking 1,500 horses to war-torn Poland from Newport News, Va.

When returning he decided to get a job in Newport News, resulting in his meeting and marrying Alice Hertzler in 1948.

After living in Virginia nine months they moved to Oregon. Always loving new places and particularly the southwest, they moved to Albuquerque, N.M., where they had a new home built and helped in a small church. He was mechanic for a fleet of trucks at Foremost Dairy.

Selling their home they moved to Hesston, Kan., and as he liked to say, “At age 40, I wiped the grease off my hands and went to Hesston College’s Ministers Course.” He was ordained as a minister in 1967 and served pastorates in Mississippi, Oregon and Kansas before returning to settle in Oregon. He loved serving in small struggling churches and often worked at carpentry or mechanics along with pastoring.

Some of his joys included collecting antique model cars, tinkering with old motors, building trailers, attending auctions to buy and sell, playing word games and washer board with his grandchildren and listening to and singing the great Christian hymns. He often sang as he worked in his shop. He was known for his sense of humor and quick retorts.

Survivors include his wife of 55 years, Alice; three sons, Les of Lebanon and Michael and Mattew of Corvallis; two daughters, Rainy Ostrom of Portland and Rebecca Gann of Hillsboro, Kan.; two sisters, Margaret Davis of Omaha, Neb., and Jessie Hamilton of Harrisonburg, Va., and eight grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by brothers Wayne and Max, and a sister, Louise Wideman.