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- Obit:
MARY'S OBITUARY
The service will be livestreamed. https://boxcast.tv/channel/n12gpk18euckrb3gcgs4
Mary Kathryn Oyer died peacefully on January 11, 2024, after a vibrant life immersed in music and dedicated to learning and teaching. Mary was born to Noah and Siddie King Oyer on April 5, 1923, in Hesston, Kansas. In 1924 her family moved to Goshen, Indiana, where Noah served as dean of Goshen College until his early death in 1931.
Music was a cherished part of Mary's life from an early age, and she began playing cello in elementary school. After graduating from Goshen College in 1945 with a major in music and a minor in art, she earned master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Michigan in 1947 and 1958, respectively. For her master’s thesis, she designed an innovative Fine Arts curriculum that integrated music and the arts. Her doctoral program focused on cello performance, and she was the first string player to earn a Doctor of Musical Arts performance degree from Michigan. She studied cello with Oliver Edel at the university, and with Leonard Rose at a summer music festival. Mary served on the Goshen College faculty from 1945-87, teaching cello and courses in music and the arts. Her signature Fine Arts course enriched the lives of more than 5,000 students. After retiring from Goshen College, she taught at Associated (now Anabaptist) Mennonite Biblical Seminary from 1989-98, and accepted shorter faculty assignments at educational institutions including Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya, and Tainan Theological College and Seminary in Tainan, Taiwan.
Mary’s love of the arts and learning led her in new directions throughout her life. In 1963-64, as part of her work as executive secretary of the 1969 Mennonite Hymnal, she spent a sabbatical year studying hymnody with Erik Routley in Edinburgh, Scotland. Following her return, she traveled widely throughout North America, introducing many congregations to the intent and content of the new hymnal. She earned broad respect for this work and continued to explore diverse types of music within the church, including African American and Native American Indian music. Mary also became an active leader in the Hymn Society in North America, where she served as research editor, was a keynote speaker at many conferences, and was inducted as a Fellow in 1989.
In the summer of 1969, Mary spent two months traveling and studying in several countries in east and west Africa. She returned to Goshen with lively enthusiasm for new and broader understandings of music and the arts, which she integrated into her teaching. Over the next quarter century she returned to Africa many times, visiting more than 20 countries and returning most frequently to Kenya. During the 1970s, she spent nearly every summer in Africa, and she taught at Kenyatta University for two years in the mid-1980s. Mary studied music with African musicians and invited some of them to join her in teaching classes at Goshen College. She also visited individuals working with Mennonite Central Committee throughout Africa.
Mary's last five years of teaching were in Taiwan (1999-2004), an experience that further broadened her musical understanding. Sojourns in Japan, India and elsewhere, as well as involvement in several Mennonite World Conferences, further enriched her life and thinking. Throughout her life, she found exploration of the arts of other cultures to be the most meaningful pathway to understanding those cultures.
Former students have expressed appreciation for Mary's joy, vibrancy, and love of learning; her humor, intellect, and openness to new ideas; and her keen interest and support for them as whole persons. For Mary, faith was the foundation for many of these attributes. Her family and friends have deeply appreciated her many gifts and are grateful that she willingly and graciously shared them with so many others throughout the many decades of her life.
Mary is survived by sister-in-law Carol S. Oyer of Goshen, IN; nieces Rebecca Oyer of Lafayette, LA, Kathryn Oyer of Goshen, and Sarah (Sally) Oyer (Michael Cerceo) of Seattle; nephew Timothy Oyer (Joanne) of Chicago; great-nieces Carrie Friesen-Meyers (Eliot) of Berkeley, CA, Rachael Gingrich (Jonathan) of Portland, OR, Anicka Meyers (Shey Dunlop) of Portland, OR, and Mia Cerceo of Chicago; great-nephews Benjamin Cerceo of Seattle, John Oyer of Chicago, and Noah Oyer of Chicago; and great-great nieces and nephews Greta, Alex, Owen and Leighton. She was preceded in death by her parents, and by siblings Verna I. Oyer and John S. Oyer.
Visitation will be 4 to 8 p.m., Saturday, March 9, 2024 at College Mennonite Church, where a 2:30 p.m. memorial service will be conducted Sunday, March 10, 2024.
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Quiltmaker, whose quilts were found by her daughter inside cedar chests in the attic of the family home where she was living (2005-6). The story was printed in a Mennonite paper, as well as the South Bend Tribune and a Goshen newspaper.
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1923 - 2024 (100 years)
