Eldon
Kliewer Bargen
GOESSEL -
Eldon Kliewer Bargen, died Thursday (March 29, 2007) in Goessel.
He was born
on Dec. 6, 1930, to Bernhard B. and Esther Bargen in Wichita. He grew up as a
"campus kid," the son of a Bethel College professor, and graduated
from Newton High School in 1948 and from Bethel College in 1954, after taking a
stand for peace in resistance to military conscription. He married Helen J.
Bartel on Dec. 28, 1951. He made his occupation as a educator, draftsman,
woodworker, and Mennonite and mission service worker. He made a lifetime
commitment to non-violent service to community, beginning with his young
family, by serving a term of Mennonite Voluntary Service at Brooklane Farm
psychiatric center in Maryland. He and his family moved numerous times as he
continued to serve others by teaching industrial arts at West High in Wichita,
on staff at the Mennonite Camp Friedenswald in Michigan, volunteering at the
Mennonite mission school in Cachipay, Colombia, retraining to teach Spanish in
Ohio, and more MVS at the Mennonite Seminary in Indiana before retiring to his
home town of North Newton in 1982. Throughout, he volunteered drafting services
in Latin America for earthquake disaster relief, Interamerican Mission
facilities and Wycliffe translators program. Locally, he custom-designed houses
and remodeling projects, with a reputation for innovation and creative problem
solving. He was a member of Bethel College Mennonite Church.
Survivors
include his wife, son, Dale Bargen and wife Jenny; four grandchildren, Halle,
Lea, Isaac, and Jeron; daughter, Jan Bargen; and sister, Joyce Bargen Koehn and
husband Paul.
Memorial
service will be at 3 p.m. April 21 at Bethel College Mennonite Church in Newton
with minister Heidi Regier Kreider officiating. Burial will be a private
inurnment service.
Memorials
may be made to Mennonite Mission Network-Justapaz, Bethesda Home, and Hospice
Care of Newton in care Miller Funeral Home in Goessel.
1930 - 2007