Stanley Swartzendruber

Stanley Swartzendruber
, - February 08, 2012
Kalona, Iowa
Visitation: 4-8 PM February 11, 2012 at Yoder-Powell Funeral Home, Kalona, Iowa
Funeral Service: 1:30 PM February 12, 2012 at Kalona Mennonite Church, Kalona, Iowa
Interment: February 12, 2012 at Lower Deer Creek Cemetery
They're together again! Stanley Swartzendruber passed on Wednesday, Feb. 8 to join his wife Edna. He has lived alone for the past ten years in his rural Kalona home. Almost 92, (born February 28, 1920) he was known and loved as a man of integrity and kindness. Stanley enjoyed farming. Centerview Farm has been a Swartzendruber heritage for the past 150 years, located just north of Washington Township School. He graduated from Center High--which was adjacent to the farm, and known as the first rural high school in America. After Goshen College and marriage to Edna Rich of Crawfordsville on October 14, 1944, he returned to the family farm. He had 'missions' in his heart for many years. He enjoyed helping life-long friends, Mac and Mary Bustos, establish a Spanish church in Davenport. In his retirement years, he and Edna enjoyed traveling to see the kids, serving in an Arizona mission, and in Haiti with Water for Life. He cared for his orchards, and could usually be seen with his cider mill at Fall Festival. The Sale Barn and IMS ball games were other favorites. The rest of the time, he could be found in his work shop, his big farmer hands building or repairing delicate musical instruments. Stanley was a man with music in his heart. From listening to masterpieces, singing with family, and in many different groups, playing violin (inherited from his fiddler Grandpa), to making a violin from his own catalpa trees, there was always music. He was a gentle man with very few complaints, and a hearty laugh. He loved God, loved people, and the finer things of life. What a legacy he has passed on! His parting words were: " Love God, and listen to Him." Preceding him is his wife, Edna, and three grandsons; parents, Lewis and Mabel; one sister, Lucille and brother, Bill. Stanley is survived by a Sister, Mary Ellen (Mrs. Ralph Miller), half-sister, Leona (Mrs. Glenn Burkholder) live in Kalona area. Sister-in-law, Thelma (Mrs. Bill Swartzendruber) lives in Pennsylvania. Eight children are scattered from coast to coast: Larry and Donna (Colorado), Thelma and Lou Goszleth (Florida), June and Bill Taylor (Florida), David and Judy (California), Tony and Jeanie (Kansas City), Bernie and Debbie (Michigan), Becky and Doyle Hochstedler (Centerview Farm), and Anne Williams (Tennessee). Twenty-five grandchildren, and nineteen great grandchildren complete the loving family Stanley left behind. Celebration of Life Service will be held 1:30 PM on Sunday, February 12, 2012, at the Kalona Mennonite Church, Kalona. Rev. Scott Swartzendruber will officiate. Burial will be held the Lower Deer Creek Cemetery, rural Wellman. Visitation will be on Saturday from 4-8 PM at the Yoder-Powell Funeral Home, Kalona. A memorial fund has been established for Love A Child.