Bertha Harder reminiscences

When Leland and I arrived in Elkhart on our move from Chicago with our few belongings and two young boys, we settled in a rental house on South Sixth Street. This modest house was owned by Harvey Nunemaker, a Mennonite pastor and his wife, who planned to retire there sometime in the future.

The next day we were introduced to the new seminary within walking distance of our house. There it was, brand new brick buildings with a sign. Inside the buildings were new offices and classrooms, a large long room with shelves ready for the library books. Sidewalks were temporary board walks. Inside the building we met faculty and staff with smiling faces, greeting each other with eager and yet somewhat fearful anticipation. What would it be like?

Students came, some single, but mostly married men from all parts of the United States and Canada. I was scheduled to teach a credit course called, “The Christian Education of Children.” As classes started I came to realize that only a few of the women on campus were enrolled for classes. Many did not have the academic prerequisites for formal seminary study. Many of the wives were confined to their small apartments, keeping house for their husbands and caring for babies and children. How could these women get involved in learning?

I had an idea that was accepted and implemented, even during that first year in Elkhart. I designed an evening course called, “Women in Church Life.” This was a non-credit course for women of any level of educational achievement. A goodly number of women came and enrolled. We studied and practiced effective committee work, planning programs in the life of the church, and working in the Sunday church school for various age levels. We even worked on preparing and presenting talks on topics of individual interest. I remember that toward the end of those class sessions, I said to these women, “Now if you are ever asked to perform a leadership function or maybe even asked to give a talk in front of the congregation, do the best you can and you may be given another opportunity to lead out again sometime!”

Bertha Harder, faculty
North Newton, Kan.