Ellis Swartzendruber

KALONA ? Ellis Maynard Swartzendruber, 94, of Kalona, died Saturday, May 28, 2016, in Kalona.

A memorial service was held at 11 a.m., Monday, May 30, at the Sunnyside Conservative Mennonite Church in Kalona. Burial was at 9:15 a.m., prior to the service, Monday at the Fairview Cemetery. Visitation was from 2 to 6 p.m., Sunday at the church. A memorial fund has been established for the Sunnyside Church and Pleasantview Home. Peterseim Funeral Home in Kalona handled the arrangements.

Mr. Swartzendruber was born March 15, 1922, in Wellman, the son of Elmer G. and Mary (Bender) Swartzendruber. He married Ila Miller on Dec. 25, 1945.

He attended Hickory ?Grove school near the family farm north of Wellman through grade eight. He served as a conscientious objector in Civilian Public Service in Terry, Montana, and Fort Collins, Colorado, before joining Washington County Farm Store as a partner with his father-in-law Ben M. Miller, brother-in-law Cecil Miller, and brother Morris. After retiring from the farm implement business in 1984, he held several part-time jobs in the Kalona area and volunteered at Pleasantview Home and Mennonite Central Committee Relief Sale. He served as church treasurer, Sunday school and Bible school teacher, trustee, and service committee member at Sunnyside Conservative Church. He served on the boards of Iowa Mennonite School and the Pleasantview Home, where he was a resident at the time of his death. He was baptized into the Christian faith on Nov. 27, 1937, at Fairview Conservative Mennonite Church and was a charter member of Sunnyside Conservative Mennonite in 1955. For many years he was a member of the Men?s Chorus of the area Conservative Mennonite churches.

Surviving are his wife of 70 years, Ila (Miller) Swartzendruber; three sons, Loren and wife Pat Swartzendruber of Harrisonburg, Virginia, Darwin and wife Tina Cambridge of Kalona, and Larry and wife Connie Miller of Kalona; 10 grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; and two siblings, Edith Nisly, and Ethel Miller, both of Kalona.

He was preceded in death by his parents; three sisters, Mildred Graber, Effie Miller, and Mary Elva Ropp; and one brother, Morris.