Rev John T. Neufeld

John T. Neufeld was born on June 22, 1895 at Inman, Kan. He was the fourth son of Abraham P. Neufeld, a pastor of the Bethel Church at Inman, and Helena Toews Neufeld. His grandfather, Heinrich Toews, had also been a pastor of the Bethel Church. He was called to the Church Triumphant on July 13 after 66 wonderful years God had given him here. This was one week after a short trip to Kansas to visit, for the last time, his family and friends around the Inman area.
Rev. Neufeld spent his early years around Inman as a carpenter, building homes and schools there. He spent several years building mission buildings and homes at Indian mission stations in Oklahoma and Montana. In 1920 he came to Chicago to study architecture. He married Catherine Wiens (the eldest daughter of Rev. Abraham F. Wiens, the founder and pastor of Grace Mennonite Church, on May 28, 1922.

He was ordained as a minister and elder by Rev. Wiens on Feb. 23, 1936 and became pastor of the church on Jan. 10, 1937 at the death of Rev. Wiens. He had been affiliated with the Grace Church since his arrival in Chicago in 1920, serving as Sunday school teacher, superintendent and youth leader. He served as pastor of the church for 23 years, and as pastor emeritus for two years, the position he held at the time of his death.

One of the difficult events of his life, but from which God gave him the strength to be victorious, was his being drafted into military service during World War I. He was court-martialed because of his Christian convictions against war, and sentenced to Leavenworth, Kan. for 15 years. However, at the end of the war all the CO's were released, and he was released after serving only six months of his sentence.

One of the blessings of his life was the privilege to ordain his son and three sons-in-law into the Mennonite ministry.
They are Rev. Jack Kressly, present pastor of the Grace Mennonite Church, husband of Esther; Rev. Rudolph Martens, C. I. M. missionary, now serving in Comins, Mich., husband of Dr. Elvina; Rev. Ernest Neufeld of the Second Mennonite Church of Philadelphia, Pa., husband of Lila Penner Neufeld; and Robert Coon, pastor of the First Mennonite Church of Chicago, husband of Helen. A fourth daughter, Edith, is now in nurse's training at Bloomington Mennonite Hospital.
Rev. Neufeld's education consisted of West Eagle Grade School and Bethel Academy in Kansas and Chicago Technical College and some work at Bethany Biblical Seminary in Chicago.

After his graduation from Chicago Tech, he worked successively as correspondence course instructor for Chicago Tech., wrote articles for the "American Builder" and worked for the Methodist Bureau of Church Architecture. The closing of the banks in 1932 put an end to Rev. Neufeld's full-time architectural career.

For the next 12 years he supported his family with an egg business which proved to be helpful to other unemployed men of the church as well.

From 1944-46 he worked in the Chicago office of the American Leprosy Missions. Then he was called as business manager of the Mennonite Seminary, and worked there for 10 years, retiring from this position in 1956.

Other activities throughout the years were: Organizer and president of the Inter-Church Council of the Stock Yards District; instrumental in organizing the Markham Community Mennonite Church south of Chicago; active in various Conference activities and causes, and contributor to various Mennonite publications.

For the past several years he had been working on a history of the Mennonite churches in Chicago and gave lectures with slides and historical information on this subject. He was listed in the 1946 publication of "Who's Who in Chicago and Illinois."

Besides his immediate family, his dear wife and help-meet of 39 years, Catherine Rachel Wiens Neufeld, five children, 4 children-in-law and six grandchildren, he also leaves six brothers and one sister, Rev. Henry T. Neufeld of Enid, Okla., Abraham T. Neufeld, Rev. Peter T. Neufeld, Isaac T. Neufeld, Mrs. Jacob Pauls (Helena), Jacob B. Neufeld, and Frank Neufeld of Inman, Kansas, and many wonderful friends.

The Sunday morning worship service of July 16 at the Grace Church was held in memory of Rev. Neufeld.
The funeral service was held at the Grace Mennonite Church, July 17. Dr. S. F. Pannabecker, president-emeritus of Mennonite Biblical Seminary, under whom Rev. Neufeld had worked at the seminary, conducted the service. Dr. Pannabecker was assisted by Rev. John Thiessen, boyhood friend and brother-in-law of the deceased. The pall-bearers were Mennonite ministers from the Chicago Area, Rev. Neufeld's co-workers here in city mission work; Rev. Laurence Horst, Rev. Delton Franz, Rev. Paul King, Rev. David Bair, Rev. John Mendel, and Rev. Charles Miller.

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