John W. Gaeddert
1924 - 2020
John W. Gaeddert died on November 12,
2020 at Kidron Bethel Village in North Newton, Kansas. He was 96.
John Wesley Gaeddert was born February
7, 1924, in Nowata County, Oklahoma, the son of Peter R. and Lena
(Janzen) Gaeddert. The Gaeddert family had moved to Oklahoma from
Kansas in search of improved farming prospects. Instead they found
land ravaged by prolonged drought and economic collapse. The family
returned to Kansas, where John was baptized in the Hoffnungsau
Mennonite Church in rural Inman. As John wrote in his memoirs, the
Gaeddert family was "poor but not poorly."
John was a graduate of Buhler High
School and Bethel College (Kan.) with a degree in music education. He
later obtained an MRE from Mennonite Biblical Seminary (Ill.) and a
BD from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary (Ind.).
John's college career was deferred when
he was drafted into service as a conscientious objector during World
War II. His service took him to the Sierra Nevadas of northern
California, where he fought forest fires, surveyed road projects,
repaired telephone lines, and worked in a TB hospital. Upon returning
to Kansas from California, John enrolled at Bethel, where during his
junior year he began courting Mary L. Voran. The two were married on
June 1, 1951 at Bethany Mennonite Church in Kingman County, Kan.
John began his career with three years
teaching K-12 music at Lehigh and Hillsboro, Kan. John felt a calling
to ministry, and moved his young family to Chicago (Ill.), then
Elkhart (Ind.), to attend seminary. He pastored three churches during
his career: Bethesda Mennonite Church, Henderson, Neb.; Tabor
Mennonite Church, rural Newton, Kan.; and Halstead First Mennonite
Church, Halstead, Kan. He often directed the church choir as well.
Interspersed with these pastorates were administrative positions: a
three-year stint as country director for Mennonite Central Committee
in Congo (Zaire); director of admissions for Bethel College; and
executive secretary of education for the Commission on Education,
General Conference Mennonite Church. Conservative estimates put the
number of weddings John officiated somewhere near the century mark,
including the marriages of his three children and two of his
grandchildren.
After retirement from ministry, John
pursued a lifelong dream, turning to sculpture as a full-time pursuit
at the age of 65. John produced hundreds of sculptures, many of which
were made from his favorite medium, bristlecone pine. In 2016, Bethel
College hosted a retrospective of John's work at the Luyken Fine Arts
Center gallery. From teaching to singing to ministry to
administration to art, John had several careers but one vocation: the
exploration and celebration of beauty and love in our common, lived
experiences.
John was an outsized public figure, a
person of deep faith and longing for justice. In private, his family
and friends knew him as fun-loving, goofy, and even a rascal. He
loved a good joke, especially practical ones. He loved wordplay. He
loved peppering his speech with Low German phrases and aphorisms. He
loved fishing. He loved playing tennis. He loved his family.
John is survived by his wife Mary, to
whom he was married for 69 years; three children: Susan Bartel
(Allan) of North Newton, Kan.; Dee Gaeddert Dorsey (Jim) of Grant,
Minn.; and Russell Gaeddert (Jean Flickinger) of Hutchinson, Kan.;
four grandchildren: Nathan Bartel (Kendra Burkey); Megan Bartel
(Chris Lowen); Adam Gaeddert (Rebecca Woodruff); and Sam Gaeddert
(Keila Quenzer Gaeddert); five great-grandchildren; and one sister,
Velma Stoesz (Charles) of Mountain Lake, Minn.
He was preceded in death by his
parents; two sisters, Lorene Balzer (Victor) and Erma Goering
(Wilbert); and two brothers, Melvin (Velda) and Elmer (Elfrieda).
The family deeply regrets that, due to
the pandemic, they will not be able to celebrate John's life with the
people of the communities he so loved. A private memorial service and
interment is being planned.
Remembrances of John can be shared with
the family by sending them to
john-gaeddert-memories@googlegroups.com.
Memorial gifts may be made to Bethel
College, Mennonite Central Committee, or Kidron Bethel Village.
Contributions may be sent to Broadway Colonial Funeral Home, 120 E.
Broadway, Newton, Kansas 67114
He will be dearly missed. May he rest
in peace.
Arrangements are by Broadway Colonial
Funeral Home, Newton, Ks.
