Obituary: Leland D. Harder
KS_Newton -- Leland D. Harder, 86, retired minister and
seminary professor, died March 21, 2013, at the Kidron-Bethel Retirement Center
in North Newton.
He was born July 1, 1926, in Hillsboro to Menno S. and
Katherine Wiens Harder. He married Bertha Fast on Aug. 8, 1951, in Mountain
Lake, Minn.
He was a graduate of Bethel College (1948), Michigan State
University (M.A., 1950), Bethany Biblical Seminary (B.D., 1952), and
Northwestern University (PhD, 1962). He was pastor of the First Mennonite
Church of Chicago (1952-1957) and taught at the Mennonite Biblical Seminary,
Elkhart, Ind. (1958-1983). He was a member of the Commission on Home Ministries
for the General Conference Mennonite Church.
He and a colleague were the authors of a sociological study
of the members of five Mennonite denominations, Anabaptists Four Centuries
Later. He was also the author of a major book in Anabaptist studies, The
Sources of Swiss Anabaptism. He retired in North Newton in 1983, where he was a
part-time director of the Great Plains Seminary Education Program, served as
Conference Minister for the South Central (Mennonite) Conference, and was
deeply involved in family history research and writing. He was an active member
of the Bethel College Mennonite Church.
Preceding him in death were his two parents; a brother:
Marvin Harder; sister: Lois Hiebert; wife: Bertha; and daughter-in-law: Julie
(Wieler).
He is survived by son: John (Windsor, ONT), granddaughter:
Chani, her husband: Alex Wiens, and great-granddaughter: Julianne;
granddaughter: Leah and her husband: John Wideman; son: Tom (Wichita),
daughter-in-law: Lois (Nofsinger), and granddaughters: Hillary, Madeline and
Anna; and his sister: Joan (Kaufman, Winfield).
A memorial service will be at Bethel College Mennonite
Church, North Newton, Saturday, April 6, at 3 p.m., preceded by a private
internment at the Gnadenau Mennonite Cemetery south of Hillsboro.
Arrangements are by Broadway Colonial Home, Newton.
