Collection 00/MS.490 - Kenneth G. Bauman Papers

Mennonite Weekly Review notice:

Kenneth G. Bauman, 60, newly elected president of the General Conference Mennonite Church, died at a Ft. Wayne, Ind., hospital Sunday, Dec. 21, of complications following surgery for cancer.

Services will take place at 10:30 a. m., Dec. 27, at the First Mennonite Church of Berne. An additional memorial service is planned at the Bethel College Mennonite Church, North Newton, Kan., at 5 p. m. on Dec. 29.

Diagnosis of stomach cancer in mid-December prompted the surgery, which took place on Thursday, Dec. 18. Doctors found that the disease had metastasized, necessitating a much longer surgery than was expected.

AT THE TIME of his death, Bauman was senior pastor at First Mennonite Church of Berne, with 1,135 members the largest U. S. congregation in the conference. He had held this position since 1973, during which time he also served 12 years on the General Board of the General Conference Mennonite Church. He was elected president of the conference at triennial sessions in Saskatoon, Sask., in July 1986.

Bauman's years as pastor were preceded by 18 years as a missionary in India, also for the General Conference Mennonite Church. He and his wife returned to India from June to November 1985 to teach at Union Biblical Seminary in Pune.

He was a graduate of Bluffton (Ohio) College and Mennonite Biblical Seminary.

Bauman is survived by his wife, Mary Gallagher Bauman; five children, Timothy, Ruth, David, Daniel and Stephen; his mother, Ella Garber Bauman, retired missionary to India; and his brother and sisters, Clara Stauffer, Albert, Harvella Stutzman and Elizabeth Shelly. He was preceded in death by his father, Harvey Bauman.

"KEN'S COMMITMENT to Jesus Christ," says conference general secretary Vern Preheim, "will inspire me as long as I live."

The conference's vice president, Florence Driedger, Regina, Sask., assumed the responsibilities of the president since Bauman's death.