Milton Harder

Milton J. Harder, 93, retired pastor and service worker, died Tuesday (Jan. 30, 2018) at Bethesda Home in Goessel.

He was born March 3, 1924, to John M. and Sarah Enns Harder on a farm near Butterfield, Minnesota. His parents preceded him in death. He was married to Geraldine Gross Harder, originally of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, from 1952 to 1996. She preceded him in death. In 1997, he married Katharine Moyer Harder, originally of Deer Creek, Oklahoma, who survives.

Milton attended schools in Butterfield and Mountain Lake, Minnesota. He graduated from Bethel College, North Newton, in 1948, with a B.A. in social studies. In 1954, he graduated from Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Chicago. He was ordained to the ministry in his home church, the First Mennonite Church of Mountain Lake, on July 11, 1954.

Milton was a volunteer service worker for eight years with Mennonite Central Committee in Germany, initially from 1948 to 1951. After marriage, he returned to Kaiserslautern, Germany, from 1954 to 1959. From 1959 to 1968, he worked at the General Conference Mennonite Church denominational offices in Newton as a youth worker and curriculum editor. Subsequently, he pastored Mennonite congregations in Seattle, Lansdale, Pennsylvania, and Geneva, Nebraska. He also served for eight years as a chaplain and counselor for a Salvation Army men's social service program in Seattle. In 1988, he retired from full-time ministry to North Newton, and until 1994 continued to serve part-time as associate pastor of Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church in Goessel.

Following his marriage to Katharine in 1997, he moved to her family farm near Deer Creek, where he enjoyed full retirement and continued his life-long interests in travel and family visits, photography, reading and gardening. Shortly after his 90th birthday, he moved to Golden Oaks Village in Enid, Oklahoma, and since 2015 has resided at Bethesda Home in Goessel.

Survivors include two sons, Robert G. (Lorna Habegger) Harder of Hesston and James M. (Karen Klassen) Harder of Bluffton, Ohio; a sister, Margaret J. Adrian, and a brother, Raymond F. Harder, both of Mountain Lake; a brother, John A. (Virgene Swanson) Harder of Clermont, Florida; a granddaughter, Annalisa (Jacob) Brenneman of Phnom Penh, Cambodia; a grandson, John A. Harder of Bowling Green, Ohio; a granddaughter, Johanna (Dennis) Fields of High Point, North Carolina; and two great-grandsons.

Visitation will take place from 3 to 5 p.m. Feb. 18, 2018, at the Dyck Arboretum in Hesston. A memorial service will be held at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 19, 2018, in the chapel at Bethesda Home in Goessel. A private burial is planned in the Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church cemetery.

A memorial has been established with Bethesda Home, in care of Miller-Ott Funeral Home, Goessel.