Howard Owen Hershberger was born on Nov. 27, 1926 in Tofield, Alberta, Canada to Owen and Clara (Brenneman) Hershberger and passed away Jan. 8, 2021. He was the fourth of the six children of this union.
His first eight years were spent on a farm near Tofield, Alberta surrounded by his mother’s family, and the next six years in High River, Alberta, where his father had been called to help serve a small congregation. This had a profound effect on him and his family. His parent’s willingness to leave family and friends to take an unpaid assignment in an economically challenged area left an indelible impression on him. At High River he became aware of his lostness and accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior and was baptized into His body, the church. Primarily because of his mother, who wanted desperately to have her children receive a Christian education, that had been denied her they moved to Hesston, Kansas in 1941, to make that possible.
His father accepted a call to become a self-supporting associate pastor of the Pennsylvania Mennonite Church. During his high school years he met, and later married, after they both graduated from Hesston College, the love of his life, Martha (Buckwalter). Words are inadequate to describe the difference it made for him. She was the perfect complement to him. After graduation from Bethel College, he was admitted to KU medical school. After the first term it seemed the door was closed because of inadequate funds, to continue this path. After withdrawing from medical school, he was invited to work at Hesston Manufacturing Company as an accountant. Having never taken any accounting courses he immediately began taking courses by correspondence. When he began working, at what later became Hesston Corporation, there were 33 employees, when he left 25 years later there were 3500 worldwide. From a career standpoint it was a case of being at the right place at the right time. Hesston Corporation was a wonderful place to work, particularly in the early days when it was very much “family”. At break time they had a men’s choir, undirected, that would sing men’s 4-part gospel songs. When he left in 1976 he was Vice-President and controller. God was nudging him to make a change so in 1976 he took a position at Hesston College as director of finance. He served in that position for five years and when they had a change in presidents, he decided that it was time to move on. He had been serving on the board of directors of DewEze Manufacturing Company and when he left Hesston College, he accepted the position as President of DewEze at Harper, Kansas. He was there for 15 years, until 1996 when he left his active career work and moved to Hesston where he resided until his death.
Although his work was always enjoyable and challenging, he enjoyed the freedom to pursue other interests, primarily related to the church. He served as an early treasurer of his church and Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp. Church-wide he served on the Mennonite Mission Board, the Mennonite Board of Education, and the Hesston College Board of Directors. He served as moderator of South Central Mennonite Conference and three times as Chairman of the Church at Whitestone and once at Pleasant Valley Mennonite Church in Harper. He also served on the Greensburg Hospital Board of Directors as well as the Prairie View Hospital Board and two different terms on the board of the Schowalter Foundation. He also served on the Hesston School board at the time of the starting of the high school and on the Great Bend Manufacturing Board of Directors. He continued to serve on the Harper Industries Board of Directors until 2017. He viewed himself as a very ordinary talent who had many special opportunities.
He and his wife, Martha, enjoyed being able to give financially to the church and the church institutions. When asked on time to give a large sum of money, outside of their ability, Martha said “we are not rich”. Howard replied, “Isn’t it nice for people to think you are rich without having to be burdened with the money”. He was satisfied at what they were able to give but never completely at ease with what they spent on themselves. He believed that the tithe was only a place to begin and not a place to end. He served on a number of fundraising projects for his own local church as well as the larger church. He was encouraged and challenged by the generosity of persons whether they had much of little of material wealth.
He enjoyed solitude. He was naturally introverted and engaged in many activities because he felt he needed to and not because it came naturally to him. He was raised with a strong sense of “aught ness” that he carried with him throughout his life. In addition, he had a mother and sister who enjoyed company and social activities who continued to remind him of what he “aught” to do. He needed that encouragement.
Music was an important part of his life and he enjoyed singing throughout his life. He had the opportunity, while in college, to spend one whole summer traveling across the U.S. and Canada with a male quartet. He did get burned out on male quartet singing that summer and preferred mixed groups the balance of his life. He never completely understood why that was so, but since it was, he didn’t worry about it.
He believed that life only has a forward gear – you learn from the past, but you don’t dwell on it. He never spent any time thinking about what “might have been”. He viewed this as a grace given by God. It allowed him to be at peace with closed doors and to look for open ones.
He felt wonderfully blest with a loving and caring family – his own biological family that he was born into as well as the family that he married into. In his latter years he published a monthly publication called Hershberger Happenings that was a pain and a pleasure, a pain for the children who needed to submit information monthly, and a pleasure in being able to exchange new with other members of the family. It gave Howard an opportunity to vent his offbeat sense of humor as well as his philosophy of life in addition to keeping the family abreast of what they all were doing.
He leaves behind his wife, Martha of Hesston; three sons, John (Chris) Hershberger, Windom, KS., Dan (Marla) Hershberger, Great Falls, MT., and Philip (Diana) Hershberger, Topeka, KS.; two daughters, Faith (Tim) Penner, Harper, KS., and Beth (Mark) Goertz, Inman, KS.; sisters-in-law, Grace Hershberger and Gladys Hershberger both of Goshen, IN.; ten grandchildren; and fifteen great-grandchildren.
Howard was preceded in death by his parents; infant daughter, Gwendolyn Hershberger; three brothers and a brother who died in infancy; one sister; one sister-in-law; and one brother-in-law.
Private family services will be held at Eastlawn Cemetery, Hesston. Memorial services will be announced and held at a later date at Whitestone Mennonite Church, Hesston. Friends may pay their respects to Howard on Friday, January 15, 2021 from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. at Miller-Ott Funeral Home, Hesston. The family will not be present. Memorial contributions may be made to Hesston College in care of Miller-Ott Funeral Home, P.O. Box 32, Hesston, KS. 67062.
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