Anne Marie Yoder

Anne Marie Guth was born on February 24, 1925 to Marie Nafziger and Christian Guth at the Remsing farmhouse in Folking, France.  She loved school, but was not able to continue formal schooling after age twelve due to her family’s ever more precarious financial situation.  World War II dominated her adolescence as the family was evacuated to southern France, then returned to Germany-annexed Lorraine, with one brother in hiding and her father in concentration camps.

The period after the war held many new opportunities as she began working in Mennonite children’s homes and spent a very happy year as an exchange student at Goshen College in Indiana.  After her return to France, she met John Howard Yoder and they were married July 19, 1952.  With John she began a series of many moves as she raised her family of 6 surviving children in France, Switzerland, Ohio, Indiana, Argentina and Palestine.  Prairie Street Mennonite Church became her church home in Elkhart, Indiana, where the family lived most of this time.  After John’s sudden death in 1997, Annie eventually moved to Goshen, Indiana, where her final years were spent in the comfort of her new home, surrounded by loving neighbors, friends and family.

Annie was blessed with empathy for those not at home in U.S. culture and those suffering from poor health and other burdens.  She hosted Oaklawn day treatment patients and nurtured an amazing number of friendships around the world.  She took delight in being in nature and in singing.  She seemed to have a French or German song to fit every occasion.

She is survived by her children Rebecca Yoder Neufeld (Thomas), Martha Yoder Maust (Rod), Daniel Yoder (Thea), Elisabeth Yoder (Wahba Ayyad), Esther Yoder Strahan (Jeff) and John-David Yoder (Lynda Nyce), as well as 14 grandchildren:  David (Gina), Miriam, Rachel (Rolando), Reuben (Katy), Ruth (Sudhanshu), Biniam, Nathanael (Mica, deceased), Sarah (Anthony), Naomi, Anna, Jonathan, Laura, Isaac, and John-Paul, step-granddaughter, Amy, five great-grandchildren, Nuria, Sydney, Leo, Nora, and Elijah,  her brother, Robert Guth (Annette) in France, her sister-in-law, Mary Ellen Meyer (Albert), and many dear friends and relatives around the world.

She is predeceased by her husband, John Howard Yoder, daughter, Rachel Christine Yoder and her brothers, Jean Guillaume Guth (Lucienne) and Adolphe Guth (Marthe).

“I had a dream. . . [John] was taking me somewhere in the car.  And then we stopped, and looked at a view that was out of this world.  I was so happy.  It was the most beautiful mountain scenery I’d ever seen.  Every day we live is a day closer to it.” (from a 2011 e-mail)

Visitation will be Friday, October 25, 2019, from 6 to 8 p.m. and Saturday, October 26 from 9 a.m. until the 11 a.m. memorial service at Prairie Street Mennonite Church, Elkhart.  A meal will follow the service.

Memorial contributions may be made to: Mennonite Central Committee, 21 S. 12 ^th Street, P.O. Box 500, Akron, PA 17501-1151; Mennonite Mission Network, P.O. Box 370, Elkhart, IN 46515-0370 or Mennonite World Conference, P.O. Box 5364, Lancaster, PA, 17606-5364.

Yoder-Culp Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements.