Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1878-1981 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent and medium
2.75 Cubic Feet
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Kauffman, Mabel Erb, daughter of Tilman and Lizzie (Hess) Erb, was born at Hesston, Kans., Sept. 1, 1890; died at Hesston, Kans., May 9, 1989; aged 98 y. On July 20, 1912, she was married to James Kauffman, who died on Nov. 22, 1933. Surviving are 2 sons (Daniel and Robert), 2 daughters (Melva Kauffman and Lois Roth), 14 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren, and 3 sisters (Ruth Ebersole, Amy Yoder, and Leah Yordy). She was a member of Hesston Mennonite Church, where funeral services were held on May 13, in charge of Phil Bedsworth, Paul A. Friesen, Wes Jantz, and Carl Wiebe; interment in Eastlawn Cemetery.
Name of creator
Biographical history
Allen H. Erb: bishop and administrator; born 9 December 1888 to Tilman Erb (9 November 1865-25 January 1929) and Elizabeth "Lizzie" Hess Erb (10 January 1865-3 June 1938) in Harvey County, Kansas. He was the second child and oldest son in a family of seven daughters and four sons. One of his younger brothers was Paul Erb. On 20 June 1912 he married Ethel Stella Cooprider (1 April 1888-28 Oct 1959); they had no children, but had several foster children. On 30 July 1964 he married Malinda Liechty (22 July 1888-7 January 1987). Allan died 3 April 1975.
He early pursued education beyond grade eight, attending the Bethel Academy for a term in 1904 and the Kansas State Agricultural College in Manhattan, Kansas in the fall of 1905. Allen had a conversion experience during revival meeting led by John E. Hartzler in early 1906, and joined the church at that time. After teaching in the Trousdale public school for a year, he attendedGoshen College in Indiana for a year, before again teaching at the Trousdale for two years. He then studied for two years at Hesston Academy and Bible School from 1910-1912.
On the recommendation of the Kansas-Nebraska Conference bishops, Allen Erb was ordained to pastoral ministry for the West Liberty Mennonite Church on 20 October 1912 by D. H. Bender. He and Stella farmed the land on which she had grown up until 1916. That year Erb was called to the superintendent of the new Mennonite Sanitarium in La Junta, Colorado. He served as the senior administrator and chaplain of the Mennonite Hospital and Sanitarium until 1952. He also served as administrator of the new community hospital in Lebanon, Oregon, 1948-1952, administrator of the new Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Rocky Ford, Colorado from 1954-1958, and administrator of the new hospital in Walsenburg, Colorado in 1963-1964. He was also active in establishing hospitals in Greensburg, Kansas, and Glennwood Springs and La Jara in Colorado. Later in life he also was a pioneer in promoting the Schowalter Villa retirement community in Hesston, Kansas.
Allen Erb was ordained to the office of bishop at La Junta, on 17 December 1939. As bishop he played a key role in the organization of Mennonite congregations in Limon, Denver and Pueblo in Colorado, and Perryton, Texas. He served pastorates in Kansas, Colorado, Oregon, Montana (Glendive, 1963), Nebraska (Milford, 1970) and Arkansas (1971).
In 1975 the Mennonite Board of Missions published Privileged to Serve, his autobiography recounting his long service in Mennonite health care, as well as a leader in the Mennonite Church. Seven community hospitals emerged from leadership provided by Allen H. Erb. Beyond his Bible courses at Hesston, and some extension courses in European history, Erb had no college-level training until he had retired. He was truly a gifted, self-taught administrator. Allen H. Erb is buried at the West Liberty Mennonite Church cemetery.
Name of creator
Biographical history
Name of creator
Biographical history
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
donated by daughter Lois Roth
Content and structure area
Scope and content
box 1: correspondence-undated, scrapbook, recipe book, diaries (whose?) 1909, 1962, 1971, undated
box 2: Melva Kauffman correspondence 1961-1981, some photos, some print ephemera, diary pages 1961 (whose?)
box 3: items from old wooden box labelled "Grandpa Erb's box 1848": T. M. and Lizze Erb correspondence 1912-1929, "Grandmother Hess's hair taken at her death", another unidentified hair sample (possible DNA testing?), Mrs. Daniel Kauffman correspondence 1910, deeds and mortgages 1878, 1884, 1910, 1921, clippings, postcards, Allen Erb letter 1975, items related to Allen Erb auto accident 1956, miscellaneous small artifacts
box 4: Mabel Kauffman's Bible, 1928 account book, family history materials, correspondence 1890s-1940s, photos, Afghanistan materials, clippings, article by Mabel Kauffman
box 5: Myra Vogt, "More Than One Night" (hand written and illustrated children's book about India), scrapbook, photos - Hesston College, Student National Education Association chapter charter for Hesston College 1955 with signatures of students on back, genealogical charts
box 6: Allen H. Erb drafts of memoirs
box 7: T. M. Erb Bible, T. M. Erb account book 1919-1924, family history materials, Hesston Academy class of 1912 items, sermons (whose? mostly undated but some from 1950s-60s), photos 1943, 1957
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
unprocessed
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
open for research
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Hesston College -- Alumni and alumnae (Subject)
- Hesston College -- Faculty (Subject)