Matilda Jantzen
Obituary
Matilda (Tillie) Mueller Jantzen, 99,
died on Dec. 15, 2017, at Schowalter Villa, Hesston.
She was born April 18, 1918, in Deer
Creek, Oklahoma. Tillie graduated from Dalhart (Texas) High School in
May of 1935. She went on to Bible studies at Biola University in Los
Angeles, graduating in the spring of 1942.
She married Lubin Jantzen on Aug. 6,
1943, at Immanuel Mennonite Church in Los Angeles. Together, they
both worked at Oklahoma Bible Academy in Meno, Oklahoma. Feeling
God's call to mission work, they went to India in April of 1947 under
the auspices of the General Conference Mennonite Church. They
experienced India's independence from the British Raj and the
partition that led to the creation of modern India and Pakistan.
For 35 years they served as
missionaries, first in evangelism, then in leadership of mission
schools at two mission stations. Tillie was founder and principal of
Beacon English School, a school for the children of industrial
workers. They ended their many years in India on the staff at Union
Biblical Seminary, Pune.
After their years in India, they
relocated to Newton, where Tillie clerked at Faith and Life
Bookstore, and supported Lubin in pastoring churches in Newton and
the surrounding area. In December of 1997, they moved from their
Newton home to a duplex at Schowalter Villa. In 2004, they published
their joint autobiography "Guided Lives: Memoirs of a Mennonite
Missionary Couple to India." In 2006, they found they needed
more care and moved to Schowalter Villa's main building. Wherever
they lived they were devoted to the growth and well-being of their
church community.
Tillie had a large range of interests.
She loved to read and make things. She was an excellent seamstress,
keeping her children well-clothed through their school years in
India. She had a creative imagination that showed in her
pottery-making and home decorating, in solving organization problems
in the wide variety of work she was called on to perform in India and
in maintaining a busy schedule of hosting friends, family and mission
co-workers. Tillie was an excellent cook and loved to furnish a
beautiful table.
She is survived by one brother, Harold
(Romy) Mueller of Modesto, California; one daughter, Esther of Los
Angeles; three sons: Dan (Betty) of Arvada, Colorado, Jim (Susan) of
Hillsboro and Jon (Mary Beth) of Tucson, Arizona; seven
grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her
husband, Lubin; three brothers: Alfred Mueller, Herbert Mueller and
Edgar Mueller; and two sisters, Linda Kaufman and Olga Franey.
There will be a private family burial.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Jan. 6, 2018, at First
Mennonite Church, Newton, followed by a meal at the church.
Memorials may be directed to Mennonite
Mission Network, 718 N. Main St, Newton, KS 67114.
