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2007-11-20 issue:

Larry Voth, Bethel fund-raiser, dies at 73

by Bethel College

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NORTH NEWTON, Kan.—Those who knew Larry Voth say he loved raising money, and Bethel College, for one, has benefited in countless visible and invisible ways.



A. Lawrence Voth, a pastor, administrator and Bethel College director of development for 28 years, died Oct. 27 in North Newton after a long illness. He was 73.

Voth was born in Goessel, Kan., and graduated from Walton (Kan.) High School. He was a graduate of Bethel College with a B.A. in Bible and religion and earned his bachelor of divinity degree from Mennonite Biblical Seminary (MBS) in Elkhart, Ind. In 1956, he married Jane Nyce of Pretty Prairie, Kan., a graduate of the Bethel Deaconess School of Nursing and Bethel College. The Voths’ three daughters also went on to graduate from Bethel.

From 1957-1973, Voth served in several pastoral and church leadership roles. While finishing his degree at Bethel, he was assistant pastor of First Christian Church in Newton, and while studying at MBS, he was as assistant pastor of Broadway Evangelical United Brethren Church in South Bend, Ind.

From 1961-1973, Voth was pastor of Community Mennonite Church in Markham, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. In 1964, Voth organized the Mennonite Voluntary Service unit in Markham, whose workers helped staff the children’s day-care center the church had started.
During his years in Markham, Voth served on the Peace and Service Committee and the Executive Committee of the General Conference Mennonite Church, as well as a term as president of Central District Conference.

In addition to two day-care programs, under Voth’s direction, projects in housing rehabilitation, family counseling and senior services were started, for which he proved to be a successful fund-raiser and grant writer.

Voth came to Bethel as director of development in 1973. At the time of his retirement in 2001, it was estimated that he had raised more than $50 million for Bethel College’s annual fund and various capital campaigns. He was responsible for securing funding for at least eight major construction or renovation projects on campus.

Voth is survived by his wife, Jane, North Newton, and three daughters, Laurie Regehr, Halstead, Kan., Leslie Stephan, Haven, Kan., and Linda Mueller, North Newton, three sons-in-law and five grandchildren, as well as a brother, brother-in-law, sister-in-law and several nieces and nephews.—Bethel College

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