Sammlung HM1/318 - Tillie Yoder Nauraine Papers

Tillie Yoder Nauraine was born in 1920 to Amish parents near Kokomo, Indiana.  She was the third of seven children.  She left home at age 21 to pursue an education, studying at a private Mennonite school in Harrisonburg, Virginia, Hesston College, and Goshen College. 

As a young woman, she was instrumental in founding Camp Ebenezer, a summer camp for poor African American children from Chicago.  The camp was located on her father's farm, and Voluntary Service provided four staff members.

She met her husband, Joe Nauraine, at Goshen College, and they married in 1952.

Together they moved to Puerto Rico and worked at a children's home. for five years.  They returned to Indiana, where her husband received an M.A. in social work. They later moved to Iowa, where they both held social worker positions.  They had four children together. Joe Nauraine died in 1975.

In 1985, Tillie Yoder Nauraine returned to Northern Indiana and opened a doll shop, in which she hand-made dolls, many of her own creation.  She died in 2010 in Goshen, Indiana.