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- Obit: PANTAGRAPH.com Sunday, February 1, 2009 11:02 PM CST
NORMAL -- Thomas D. Yoder, 79, formerly of 711 S. Cottage St., Normal, died Saturday (Jan. 31, 2009) at Meadows Mennonite Retirement Center, Chenoa.
His memorial service will be at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Mennonite Church of Normal, with Tim Schrag and Jane Roeschley officiating. Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the church. A private burial will precede the service at the Mennonite Church Cemetery. Kibler-Smith Memorial Home is in charge of arrangements.
He was born July 15, 1929, in Millersburg, Ohio, to David and Arie Yoder. He married Hazel Zehr on Aug. 30, 1957, in Metamora.
He is survived by his wife; one daughter, Dawn (Doug) Yoder Harms of Ephrata, Pa.; two sons, Scot (Karen Krabill) of Mason, Mich., and Mark (Debra) of Goshen, Ind.; and seven grandchildren. Also surviving are three sisters, Esther Yoder, Ruth Miller and Emma Weaver, and one brother, Paul, all of Ohio. His parents and two brothers preceeded him in death.
Tom spent two years in volunteer service for Mennonite Central Committee at Gulfport, Miss., and Topeka, Kan. He worked for a year at the Sauder Maunfacturing Plant in Ohio, where he learned many woodworking skills. He then decided to attend college, although he had not attended high school due to being raised in an Amish family. He attended Goshen College in Goshen Ind., for two years and then transferred to Bethel College in Newton, Kan., and graduated with a B.S. in industrial arts.
He taught three years at Hesston College in Hesston Kan., and then moved to Normal, where he received his master's degree in history at Illinois State University. He taught U.S. history at Bloomington Junior High School for 30 years and retired in 1992. He enjoyed traveling abroad as well as in the states, and made a hobby of woodworking, fishing and photography.
He was very active and was very involved in many volunteer activities. He assumed various roles in the Illinois Mennonite Historical Society. He was active in his church, teaching Sunday School, served as youth sponsor and church board member, and was on the building committee when the church was built.
In August of 1993, he was in a bicycling accident and had many injuries, including closed head trauma, and at that time spent four months in the hospital and rehabilitation unit. He made a remarkable recovery, but never regained many of the skills he had. He spent the last three years at Meadows Mennonite Retirement Home where he enjoyed everyone he came in contact with and made many friends while living there.
The family requests memorials to be made to Meadows Mennonite Home, Mennonite Central Committee or the Illinois Mennonite Historical Society or to a donor of your choice.
Copyright © 2009, Pantagraph Publishing Co. All rights reserved.
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1929 - 2009 (79 years)
