OBITUARY: Lora ‘Maurine’ Voth Regehr

Lora “Maurine” Voth Regehr was born to Wilhelm “William” Cornelius Voth and Matilda Kliewer Voth on July 12, 1931, on the farm outside Hereford, Texas, where her father’s cousin Oscar Schmidt was taking up farming during the depression. Maurine’s parents were missionaries and by the end of 1931, they took the family, including siblings Stanley and Leland, back to China. Some details of Maurine’s childhood years are found in her mother Matilda K. Voth’s book, Clear Shining After Rain, self-published in 1980. Maurine played with Chinese children and learned to sing “Jesus Loves Me” in Chinese. The Chinese woman who took care of the house and children when Matilda was away remembered Maurine when she returned for a visit in 1987. The family left war-torn China in 1938 and lived in Newton and Lorraine during the remainder of Maurine’s school years.

Maurine was trained as a nurse at Bethel Deaconess Hospital and moved with her friend Naomi Unruh to Portland, Maine. Maurine’s sweetheart Bill Regehr and Naomi’s brother Jim Unruh were in 1-W Mennonite voluntary service there, so the two nurses were employed at Portland General Hospital, as well. Maurine and Bill were married in Inman in 1955 and spent their first year together in Newfoundland, nursing and teaching for Mennonite Central Committee.

They returned to Kansas for Bill to complete a bachelor’s degree and begin a family. In 1959, with two little sons, they moved to Borrego Pass, N.M., (Navajo tribe) and later to Oraibi, Ariz., (Hopi tribe) for Bill to teach for Indian Service. Maurine led the Girls Glee at Hopi Mission School. By 1965, the family was back in Kansas and in 1966 moved to Hesston.

As a young mother, Maurine returned to piano teaching and graduated many well-grounded beginners from her studio, where the core skill set included letter names, count rhythm, say note name, say interval. We didn’t count the students, but it seemed like a lot to her kids.

As a Mennonite Christian, Maurine had a passion for peace. In the ‘70s, she started supporting Newton Area Peace Center, where activities included demonstrating against the manufacture of bombers in Wichita and advocating for the Nuclear Freeze. Along with good friend Susan Miller, she staffed the Hesston Mennonite Church peace committee, asserting that evangelical faith and efforts for peace and justice are two sides of the same coin, inseparable.

And, as a naturally athletic person, Maurine was inspired by the fitness goal of the Emma Creek Classic foot race in Hesston since 1990. She won or placed in her age group several times.

By 2015, Maurine began grieving the unfulfillable goal of reading every word of every publication that came in the house. She and Bill moved to an independent apartment at Kidron Bethel Village, celebrating their 60th anniversary at the same time. Dementia brought confusion, frustration and occasional levity to her life. She persisted in keeping her memory of “Jesus Loves Me” in Chinese alive by singing it and asking for prayers for the Christians in China. She was well tended by staff at both campuses of Bluestem Communities. Acknowledging that her memory was poor, Maurine continued her habit of documenting everything that happened in her notebooks and journals. Her last movements were to reach for the current journal. Too bad she couldn’t take it to heaven to support her executive summary reporting duties.

In recent years, Maurine’s attention was frequently directed at who was in her family and how they were related. Until about 2020, she asserted that she was going to live to 100. At her 90th birthday, she was quite pleased to have a birthday party with family present. This summer her conversation was frequently peppered with, “do you know how old I am?” She’s 91.

Maurine had a debilitating stroke at the beginning of September and died peacefully on the 15th, having declared her faith and peace with meeting God. She was preceded in death by her parents, brother Stanley and her husband Bill. Family who remain include sons Lowell (Carol) of Manhattan, Mark (Darlene) of Alabama and Jack (Judy) of Wichita, and daughter Kristine of North Newton. Her brother Leland Voth of Harrisonburg, Va., and sister Helen Bertrand of Kidron Bethel also survive. There are six grandkids, five great-grandkids, and lots of nieces and nephews. Her family suggests memorial gifts to the Mennonite Mission Network and Mennonite Central Committee in lieu of flowers.

A memorial service for Maurine will be at 3 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 23, at Faith Mennonite Church, Newton. All are welcome.

 

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