Geneva Shetler died Sept. 13, 2019. The following column is provided by her family. To read her obituary, click here.
Geneva Shetler was born Geneva May Stamm on July 8, 1919, to Gustav and Priscilla (Stuckey) Stamm on a farm near Archbold, Ohio.
She was the 6th of 10 children and Geneva worked with her brothers and sisters helping take care of the younger children, raising the animals, working in the garden and truck patch, and putting up produce.
She remembered that “with such a large family I learned early how to speak up for myself and become as independent as possible without being a problem for my parents."
She had a special relationship with her grandmother, who dealt well with a child who was especially “persistent” and full of questions.
Geneva was always a curious and avid learner. She attended school with her siblings in the one-room schoolhouse on a corner of the family farm. In high school she took part in school plays, enjoyed playing ball and competed in races, and graduated in 1936.
At 17, Geneva somehow convinced her parents that she was mature and independent enough to start attending Goshen College and completed a two-year certificate in education, one of the few choices open to women at the time.
Geneva began her education career when she was 19 by teaching grades 4-6 in a three-room school in her home community.
In her second year at college a professor required his students to sit in alphabetical order and she sat next to – and shared a textbook with – Luther Shetler. They started dating and were married on Dec. 22, 1940, together for 78 years until Luther’s death in December, 2018.
Luther and Geneva lived in a number of communities during their first 10 years of their marriage but settled in Bluffton, where Luther began teaching at Bluffton College.
They built their house together on Augsburger Road and Geneva threw herself into all that went into keeping the family (including Luther) organized and raising their five children, who were 18 years apart from oldest to youngest. She and Luther loved hosting both family and friends at their home and Geneva’s artistry with both food and setting was renowned.
Even while immersed in family life Geneva was still determined to finish college. In 1967 she went back to school to complete her B.A. in education at Bluffton College.
She taught elementary school in Elmira, Ohio, and Bluffton for a total of 20 years. She was a master teacher, always eager to try out new and better ways to teach (sometimes to the consternation of school administrators).
In her pursuit of being the best teacher she could be Geneva also earned her master's degree in early childhood education at Bowling Green State University.
Geneva’s life always revolved around church and community. The Stamm family attended Lockport Mennonite Church where she said she grew up with a sense of responsibility for sharing whatever they had with others.
The many Bible verses and hymns she learned as a child were still with her in the last weeks of life. Geneva and her husband were active members of the First Mennonite Church in Bluffton.
When her children were young Geneva sewed all of their clothes including pants and coats and snowsuits. In later life a friend encouraged her to try quilting and a whole different kind of artistry emerged.
She loved laying out, designing and sewing her own beautiful patterns for quilts and pillows and wall hangings that now decorate the homes of her children and grandchildren. She continued making quilts and until her fingers and her eyes would no longer cooperate.
In retirement she and Luther enjoyed traveling and learning at elderhostels in the US, Central America and Europe.
Her creativity continued in her quilting, cooking, sewing and growing flowers at their house in the woods. She took pleasure in watching the grandchildren and great grandchildren grow and bloom.
