Lora ?Maurine? Voth Regehr was born
to Wilhelm ?William? Cornelius Voth and Matilda Kliewer Voth on
July 12, 1931, on the farm outside Hereford, Texas, where her
father?s cousin Oscar Schmidt was taking up farming during the
depression. Maurine?s parents were missionaries and by the end of
1931, they took the family, including siblings Stanley and Leland,
back to China. Some details of Maurine?s childhood years are found
in her mother Matilda K. Voth?s book, Clear Shining After Rain,
self-published in 1980. Maurine played with Chinese children and
learned to sing ?Jesus Loves Me? in Chinese. The Chinese woman
who took care of the house and children when Matilda was away
remembered Maurine when she returned for a visit in 1987. The family
left war-torn China in 1938 and lived in Newton and Lorraine during
the remainder of Maurine?s school years.
Maurine was trained as a nurse at
Bethel Deaconess Hospital and moved with her friend Naomi Unruh to
Portland, Maine. Maurine?s sweetheart Bill Regehr and Naomi?s
brother Jim Unruh were in 1-W Mennonite voluntary service there, so
the two nurses were employed at Portland General Hospital, as well.
Maurine and Bill were married in Inman in 1955 and spent their first
year together in Newfoundland, nursing and teaching for Mennonite
Central Committee.
They returned to Kansas for Bill to
complete a bachelor?s degree and begin a family. In 1959, with two
little sons, they moved to Borrego Pass, N.M., (Navajo tribe) and
later to Oraibi, Ariz., (Hopi tribe) for Bill to teach for Indian
Service. Maurine led the Girls Glee at Hopi Mission School. By 1965,
the family was back in Kansas and in 1966 moved to Hesston.
As a young mother, Maurine returned to
piano teaching and graduated many well-grounded beginners from her
studio, where the core skill set included letter names, count rhythm,
say note name, say interval. We didn?t count the students, but it
seemed like a lot to her kids.
As a Mennonite Christian, Maurine had a
passion for peace. In the ?70s, she started supporting Newton Area
Peace Center, where activities included demonstrating against the
manufacture of bombers in Wichita and advocating for the Nuclear
Freeze. Along with good friend Susan Miller, she staffed the Hesston
Mennonite Church peace committee, asserting that evangelical faith
and efforts for peace and justice are two sides of the same coin,
inseparable.
And, as a naturally athletic person,
Maurine was inspired by the fitness goal of the Emma Creek Classic
foot race in Hesston since 1990. She won or placed in her age group
several times.
By 2015, Maurine began grieving the
unfulfillable goal of reading every word of every publication that
came in the house. She and Bill moved to an independent apartment at
Kidron Bethel Village, celebrating their 60th anniversary at the same
time. Dementia brought confusion, frustration and occasional levity
to her life. She persisted in keeping her memory of ?Jesus Loves
Me? in Chinese alive by singing it and asking for prayers for the
Christians in China. She was well tended by staff at both campuses of
Bluestem Communities. Acknowledging that her memory was poor, Maurine
continued her habit of documenting everything that happened in her
notebooks and journals. Her last movements were to reach for the
current journal. Too bad she couldn?t take it to heaven to support
her executive summary reporting duties.
In recent years, Maurine?s attention
was frequently directed at who was in her family and how they were
related. Until about 2020, she asserted that she was going to live to
100. At her 90th birthday, she was quite pleased to have a birthday
party with family present. This summer her conversation was
frequently peppered with, ?do you know how old I am?? She?s 91.
Maurine had a debilitating stroke at
the beginning of September and died peacefully on the 15th, having
declared her faith and peace with meeting God. She was preceded in
death by her parents, brother Stanley and her husband Bill. Family
who remain include sons Lowell (Carol) of Manhattan, Mark (Darlene)
of Alabama and Jack (Judy) of Wichita, and daughter Kristine of North
Newton. Her brother Leland Voth of Harrisonburg, Va., and sister
Helen Bertrand of Kidron Bethel also survive. There are six
grandkids, five great-grandkids, and lots of nieces and nephews. Her
family suggests memorial gifts to the Mennonite Mission Network and
Mennonite Central Committee in lieu of flowers.
A memorial service for Maurine will be
at 3 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 23, at Faith Mennonite Church, Newton. All
are welcome.
