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2008-10-21 issue:

Former Bethel president Voth dies at 84

by Bethel College

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NORTH NEWTON, Kan.—Orville L. Voth, the eighth president of Bethel College, North Newton, died Sept. 22 in Wichita, Kan. following a stroke. He was 84.

Voth began his teaching career at Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina. He served as interim academic dean at Bethel College and then as president from 1967-71 before returning to Kansas Wesleyan as vice president of academic affairs. He ended his career as director of independent study at the University of Kansas.

James Juhnke, professor of history during Voth’s tenure at Bethel, recalls that on Nov. 11, 1966, when Voth was academic dean, he joined the “Repentance Walk” from the campus to the North Newton post office, an early protest against the Vietnam War organized by the college Peace Club.

“That event divided the campus,” Juhnke says. “It was especially dramatic for a top administrator to participate because President Vernon Neufeld had been critical of the plans for the Repentance Walk. I took it as an expression of Orville’s commitment to the Mennonite peace witness.”

In addition to his wife, Helen, Voth is survived by four daughters, six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Voth was a member of Bethel College Mennonite Church.