Elizabeth Hess

Elizabeth Book (Buckwalter) Hess, 90, of Mt. Pleasant, IA, died Monday, October 11, 2010, at the Pleasant Manor Care Center. Visitation will begin at noon on Friday, November 12th at the Olson - Powell Memorial Chapel, where the family will receive friends from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. that evening. Funeral services will be held Saturday, November 13th at 11:00 a.m. at the Pleasant View Mennonite Church with Pastor John Zimmerman officiating. Burial will be in the Landis Valley Mennonite Cemetery in Lancaster, PA. Memorials have been established to the Fellowship Cup and the Mennonite Central Committee. Born on February 27, 1920, in Witmer Heights, Lancaster County, PA, Elizabeth was the third child born to Enos Rohrer and Maria H. (Book) Buckwalter. On August 23, 1945, at the home of the bride, she married Ivan High Hess. He preceded her in death on September 15, 1998. Elizabeth graduated in 1942 from Goshen College, Goshen, IN. She began a long teaching career in a one room Amish school in Pennsylvania. In 1960, after the family moved to Davenport, IA, she received her certification from the University of Iowa and began teaching special needs children in Bettendorf, IA, She continued in this area of education until she retired in 1985. In 1997, Elizabeth and Ivan moved to Mt. Pleasant, IA, to be near their daughter and son-in-law. Elizabeth was a member of the Pleasant View Mennonite Church in Mt. Pleasant. After Ivan's death in 1998, Elizabeth began helping women in the Mt. Pleasant prison one day a week to design and make comforters. At the same time, she began making comforters for Mennonite Central Committee to be used in disaster relief throughout the world. In 2007, she changed her ministry and began making comforters for local needs through the Fellowship Cup. She is survived by two daughters, Rachel (Calvin) Litwiller of Mt. Pleasant, IA and Beulah (John) Hess-Yoder of Portland, OR; one brother, Enos (Anna) Buckwalter, Jr; one sister, Miriam Buckwalter all of Lancaster, PA. Also surviving are four grandchildren, Cherie Litwiller of Abu Dhabi, UAE, Tony (Madeline) Litwiller of Charlotte, NC, Rachel (Kam) Emery of Portland, OR and Joshua Hess-Yoder of Manhattan, NY; along with many nieces and nephews. Mrs. Hess was preceded in death by her parents, five children and three sisters, Anna Buckwalter, Emma Buckwalter and Alma Gehman.