Dean Swartzendruber

Dean Swartzendruber
August 14, 1927 - August 22, 2011
Kalona, Iowa
Visitation: 9:00 a.m - 8:00 p.m. August 25, 2011 at Yoder-Powell Funeral Home
Funeral Service: 1:30 p.m. August 26, 2011 at Lower Deer Creek Mennonite Church
Interment: August 26, 2011 at West Union Cemetery
Dean Swartzendruber, 84, passed away on Monday, August 22, 2011, at Mercy Hospital, Iowa City, Iowa. A Celebration of Life Service will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, August 26, 2011, at Lower Deer Creek Mennonite Church in rural Kalona. Burial will be in the West Union Mennonite Cemetery. Visitation will be on Thursday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Yoder-Powell Funeral Home in Kalona, where the family will greet friends from 2-5 and 6-8 p.m. Dean was born on August 14, 1927, near Wellman, Iowa, to Edward L. and Katherine (Erb) Swartzendruber. He grew up on a farm seven miles north of Wellman and attended White Hall School and Wellman and Parnell High Schools before graduating from Hesston (Kansas) High School. He married Lois Bergey on September 3, 1949, at Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Dean operated the family farm on which he was raised. He was ordained as minister of Lower Deer Creek Mennonite Church on October 2, 1960. He received further training and took Bible correspondence courses at Goshen College and completed a unit of Clinical Pastoral Care at the University of Iowa. Dean took part in two sessions at the Billy Graham School of Evangelism and attended the School of Practical Christianity and several Ministers Schools at Goshen College and Eastern Mennonite College. He earned a B.A. from Vennard College in Oskaloosa, Iowa, in 1968. Dean was very active in various church committees and evangelical efforts and taught Bible for three years at Iowa Mennonite School. He served on the Iowa-Nebraska Conference Mission Board for nine years. His service to the conference included Conference Youth Secretary, Conference Moderator, Conference Leadership Board member, Mennonite Church General Board member for six years, and Mennonite Salary Advisory Committee member. Dean was the Choice Books distributor and chaired the Mid-Prairie Crusade for Christ as well as the Keystone Bible Institute. He also served as chair of the Mid-Prairie Ministerial Association and was the President of the Board of Young House, a boy's home in Washington, Iowa. He was overseer of three Spanish churches in Muscatine and Davenport for 20 years. Dean was also active in the Iowa State Holstein Association. After serving at Lower Deer Creek for nearly 30 years, Dean served as interim pastor at Gulfhaven Mennonite Church, Gulfport, Mississippi; Sugar Creek Mennonite Church, Wayland, Iowa; Sycamore Grove Mennonite Church, Garden City, Missouri; West Union Mennonite Church, Parnell, Iowa; and the English River Church of the Brethren, South English, Iowa. A memorable event in Dean's life was when he was a delegate to the 1967 Mennonite World Conference in Amsterdam, Netherlands, which included a six-week study tour of Europe and the Holy Land. He found it gratifying to see lives changed by Christ, and he participated in the ordinations of over a dozen ministers. He had a particular interest in evangelism and held several series of revival meetings in seven states, giving him the privilege of watching people respond to the Gospel. Dean believed that a church that focuses on reaching out to others will avoid many problems that arise when congregations are concerned only about themselves. Dean and Lois always enjoyed the ministry. They appreciated the support and friendliness of people wherever they served and firmly believed in preaching and teaching Jesus as the way of salvation and the answer to people's deepest needs. Dean is survived by his wife, Lois, of Kalona; 6 children: Pat (Loren) Swartzendruber of Harrisonburg, VA; Richard (Donna) of Wellman, IA; Fred (Mina) of Goshen, IN; Scott (Jan) of Kalona, IA; Cindy (Dan) Steiner of Goshen, IN; and Kris (Morris) Miller of Bradenton, FL; 16 grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren; and 2 sisters: Ruth (Alvin) Grasse of Red Deer, Alberta, Canada and Mary Lechner of Seward, Alaska. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be directed to Iowa City Hospice or Mennonite Mission Network.