Mary Ann Unruh Gertsen, 93, was born on Friday, January 13,
1928, to Susanna (Susie) Hiebert Unruh and Henry Funk Unruh at their home in
Newton, Kansas. She was the youngest of six children. She attended Bethel
College Mennonite Church with her family and was baptized and joined the church
in 1942. She died peacefully with family by her side on October 25, 2021, at
Kidron Bethel Village Health Care in North Newton.
Mary Ann attended Cooper Elementary School, Newton Junior
High School, and Newton High School, where she participated in many activities,
including National Honor Society, Girl Reserves service organization,
forensics, and debate, winning many tournaments, including the state
championship. Following her graduation, she attended the University of Wichita
(now Wichita State University). She was president of UNESCO, involved in YWCA,
International Relations Club, Pi Sigma Alpha (national political science honor
society), Kappa Delta Pi (international education honor society), and on the
Dean?s Honor Roll every year. She was crowned Newton Cin Quinto Queen in 1947,
commemorating Newton?s 75th birthday, having been selected by celebrity Bob
Hope from photos of all the contestants. For several summers during college,
she worked as a counselor at Camp Wood, and in 1950 she graduated Magna Cum
Laude, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in political science and
minors in education, English, and history. Mary Ann taught English and social
studies at Newton Junior High for three years following college; many of her
former students still refer to her as the best teacher they ever had, inspiring
them to become lifelong learners and better persons. On June 10, 1951, she was
united in marriage in the Bethel College Chapel with William Marvin Gertsen, a
Newton High classmate whom she first met in Kindergarten, and they were in
every class together at Cooper. They were blessed with three children: Jane
Ellen, William Henry, and Karen Ruth. In the early 1950s, she organized efforts
to charter the first Newton League of Women Voters, was on the state board and
was nationally recognized for spearheading a campaign to promote voter
registration and participation. During the years she was raising her family with
the children living at home, she did a considerable amount of substitute
teaching and volunteer work, being active in Girl Scouting, Cub Scouting, PTA
(South Breeze Elementary School president and Life Member), church youth
activities, Women?s Society of Christian Service, and Stephen Ministry. She
sewed many of her own and her daughters? clothing, often creating matching
dresses for Christmas, Easter, and other special occasions, as well as bridal
and attendants? gowns.
She taught the girls to sew while they were still in
elementary school, and at various times through the years, she also worked
part-time for Martha?s Sewing Shop, H&R Block, and Sears.When Karen started
college, Mary Ann returned to full-time employment outside the home at Wichita
State University and continued for more than 15 years: in the Administration of
Justice Department, the Vice President for Academic Affairs Office, and the
Dean?s Office in the College of Health Professions. While working at Wichita
State, she was active in three campus organizations: Serving in Higher
Education, Council of University Women, and the Classified Senate, which she
helped organize and served as its first president. She retired in 1993.
In 1968, the family of five moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma,
and in 1975, Marvin, Mary Ann, and Karen moved to Wichita. Mary Ann and Marvin
returned to Newton in 1991, and she renewed her memberships in Readers? Review
and MEO (Mama?s Evening Out), organizations she had first joined when the
children were little and continued to be active in until her last few years.
Mary Ann was a member of Prairie Quilt Guild in Wichita for many years, which
she especially enjoyed participating in with her sister, Vi. Playing bridge was
a favorite activity throughout most of her life, and at one time was a member
of three different bridge clubs! For many years she volunteered monthly as a
docent at the Warkentin House and weekly at the Et Cetera Shop, serving on
their boards, and she continued to stay physically active as long as possible through
her senior years with water exercise.
Mary Ann attended and helped plan her high school class
reunions every five years through the final, 65-year one, in 2011. She enjoyed
cultural events, including Wichita Symphony Orchestra, Music Theatre Wichita,
Newton Mid-Kansas Symphony Orchestra, and Carriage Factory Art Gallery. Music
was an essential part of her life, and she especially enjoyed singing with her
sister, Vi, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
Increasing mobility and balance issues brought on by
Parkinson?s necessitated her moving to a Kidron Bethel Village Independent
Living apartment in July 2017 and a Health Care room there in January 2019.
Mary Ann touched countless lives through the years with
various community and church service endeavors, including tutoring at Methodist
Youthville, delivering Meals on Wheels, shopping for seniors through the RSVP
program, Head Start, teaching Vacation Bible School and Sunday School, and
helping care for toddlers in the church nursery. Her involvement at Bethel
College Mennonite Church, where she was a member for almost 80 years, was
extensive: as a youth, she was active in Christian Endeavor and Minnie-Beth
Mission Society, and as a young adult, in Mission Study Circle and on the
personnel nominating committee. She was involved in the Methodist churches
Marvin and her children attended as they were growing up and, in the late
1970s-early 1980s, the Church of the Servant, a Mennonite house church in
Wichita. Upon returning to Newton, she resumed more active involvement at BCMC:
in the Fine Arts Sunday School Class, Women?s Fellowship (serving as president
and vice president), serving on the church board, the worship, outreach, and
education commissions, and the funeral, visitation, and personnel selection
committees. She was very proud of her Mennonite heritage and loved attending
and volunteering at Bethel College Fall Fest and the MCC Relief Sale, for which
she and her sister, Vi, helped make verenike. Attending or volunteering at
Kansas Day at the Kauffman Museum was also an annual activity they valued, and
together they enjoyed numerous trips the Museum sponsored.
Another favorite annual activity the two sisters enjoyed was
making special, delectable Christmas goodies together: caramels, hand-dipped
chocolates with cream centers and other chocolate candies, and two types of
peppernuts. Her family was blessed to be the recipients of these for years, as
well as her delicious and lovingly prepared family dinners for many different
occasions.
Family was of the utmost importance to Mary Ann, and she had
a way of making every holiday special and memorable for all. She was always
very attentive and loving to her parents, in-laws, siblings, cousins, nieces,
nephews; planning and getting together for family reunions were especially
meaningful to her throughout her life. She was thrilled with each addition of
her four grandsons and three great-grandchildren, and they all became the light
of her life just as her children had always been. She loved spending time and
playing with them, going to the zoo, Botanica, and various museums together,
attending as many of their special events and activities as possible, including
traveling to the Dallas area on many occasions. Teaching card games to her
grandsons and playing cards together during their visits was a favorite
activity they all looked forward to and will cherish all their lives.
When her first great-grandchild, Lily, was born, she coined
her unique name: GGG, or Triple G, short for Great-Grandma Gertsen. Ian and
Theo were her ?cutie patootie? great-grandsons who brought her much joy in her
last few years. During her final days, when COVID-19 and Parkinson?s had caused
her very rapid decline, some of her last moments of responsiveness were during
video chats with her grandsons and Lily.
In addition to her parents, Mary Ann was preceded in death
by Marvin and her siblings: Ruth Unruh Willard (C.B. ?Ben?), Sue Unruh Pack
(George), Selma Unruh Fent (Lee), Ernest A. ?Ernie? Unruh, and Viola Unruh; a
nephew, Lee S. ?Jack? Fent II; and a former daughter-in-law, Sally Jane Steele
Maxwell.
She is survived by her daughter, Jane Gertsen Yetts (Steve)
of Lewisville, Texas; son, William H. ?Bill? Gertsen of Tulsa, Oklahoma;
daughter, Karen Gertsen (Brian Simpson) of Wichita, Kansas; four grandsons:
Taylor Yetts (Erin Doyle) of County Wicklow, Ireland; Preston Yetts of
Lewisville, Texas; Logan Yetts (Emilia Boxt) of Vallejo, California; and Will
Simpson of Wichita, Kansas; three great-grandchildren: Lily Frank of North Richland
Hills, Texas; Ian Rase-Yetts of Euless, Texas; and Theo Yetts of Vallejo,
California; sisters-in-law: Dorothy Dudte Unruh of Newton and Marilyn Gertsen
Borger (Larry) of Littleton, Colorado; and three generations of numerous nieces
and nephews, as well as cousins and many friends.
A memorial service celebrating the life of Mary Ann Unruh
Gertsen will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 2, at Bethel College
Mennonite Church in North Newton. Masks are required, and a live stream is
available at bethelcollegemennonitechurch.org.
A brief, private family inurnment service will take place at
the BCMC Columbarium before the memorial service.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Henry F. and Susie
Unruh Endowment Fund, Kauffman Museum at Bethel College, 300 East 27th Street,
North Newton, KS 67117, benefitting explicitly the Voth-Unruh-Fast House, where
her father was born. The family wishes to express deep gratitude to the caring
staff at Kidron Bethel Village Health Care, especially Chaplain Eric Massanari,
and Harry Hynes Memorial Hospice.
The spiritual guidance and support provided by the pastors
and members of BCMC greatly comforted Mary Ann and her family
