Published: August 20, 2008 11:14 am         

Rhoda Magdalena Ressler

June 7, 1910-Aug. 5, 2008

MEDINA, Ohio — Rhoda Magdalena Ressler, 98, 100 High Point Road, died Tuesday, Aug. 5. Services will be Saturday, August 23 at 10 a.m. at Oak Grove Mennonite Church, Smithville. The Revs. Joel Short, David Miller and Charles Shenk will officiate. Burial will be in the Scottdale, Pa., Cemetery at a later date.

Rhoda was born June 7, 1910, near Smithville, Ohio to Jacob A. and Lina Zook Ressler. In 1911 the family moved to Scottdale, Pa., which became the permanent home for the Ressler family.

Rhoda earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Goshen College, Goshen, Ind., and a master’s degree in deaf education from the University of Pittsburgh, Pa.

She taught in Pittsburgh and the Scottdale community for a number of years. Active in her church and the Mennonite Publishing House community (now Mennonite Publishing Network), Rhoda directed a women’s choir, taught Sunday school and Bible school and cared for her aging parents until their deaths.

She and her sister Ruth served with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) from 1949-52 in Osaka, Japan, teaching English to Japanese in postwar rehabilitation.

She then studied at the Kobe Language School for two years in preparation for work with Mennonite Board of Missions (predecessor to Mennonite Mission Network) in Hokkaido, Japan.

In Kamshihoro, Hokkaido (northern Japanese Island) Rhoda and her sister began the first kindergarten of the Mennonite mission and the Kamshihoro Mennonite Church, working in rural evangelism as fraternal workers for ten years. From 1966 to 1974, she returned to Osako with Mennonite Board of Missions, teaching English in the Japanese university and schools. Along with her language instruction, she taught Bible classes to interested students.

In 1974 Rhoda returned to the U.S., living on her mother’s home farm near Sterling, Ohio, for four years. After a 10-year stay in Waverly, Ohio, she moved to OrrVilla Retirement Community in 1988, living there until three months prior to her death.

As the daughter of the first Mennonite missionaries to India, she learned early the joy and culture of service. She valued serving and committed her life fully to doing for others until her health prohibited it. Rhoda was skilled in knitting and crocheting, making hundreds of dolls, with her sister, for benefit auctions throughout Ohio.

She loved gardening, flowers, music, reading, sewing, flower arranging, piecing and binding comforters and was a creative and resourceful cook. She was faithful in her contacts with Japanese friends, serving as a gracious hostess and tour guide when they visited her in America. She remained active in Oak Grove’s Mennonite Women organization late into her life.

She was preceded in death by an infant brother, Luke, her sister, Ruth, half-sister Emma (Mrs. George) Townsend and nephews Norman and Paul Townsend.

Surviving are several cousins; nephews, J. W. Townsend and George Townsend; niece Rebecca Tice; and countless friends.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions will be received by Oak Grove Mennonite Church, 7843 Smucker Road, Smithville, Ohio 44677 and will be directed to Oak Grove Mennonite Women and Hospice of Wayne and Medina Counties. Gift designations will be honored.

Gresser Funeral Home in Orrville is assisting with arrangements. Online expressions and guest registry are available at www.gresserfuneralhome.com.