Ezra and Bertha B. Beachy Scholarship

The lives of Ezra and Bertha Beachy are a witness to the value of a good Christian education and examples of how to use such an education to serve Christ through helping others.

From early on, Ezra learned to combine hard work with the pursuit of knowledge. As a teen-ager in Defiance County, Ohio, he completed the eighth grade before dropping out of school to work on a farm; at 21 he went to work for the Pennsylvania Railroad as a freight car repair man. Soon, however, he was faced with the struggle of what he should be doing with his life.

Ezra decided to enroll in the Goshen Academy to complete his high school education. Upon receiving his high school diploma from the Academy in 1929, he entered Goshen College the following year and graduated in 1933 with degrees in Bible and English. Next came study at the Goshen Biblical Seminary and a Th.B. degree.

During his time in the Academy and College, Ezra met Bertha Nohejh. At Goshen Bertha prepared for a teaching career. She taught school for 25 years in Colorado (at the suggestion of President S. C. Yoder), Michigan and Indiana. In 1935 the couple was married in the First Mennonite Church of Fort Wayne. They then returned to Ohio, where he taught school for six years.

In 1941 a new phase in the Beachys’ lives began. Answering a call from the Mission Board, the family moved to Pinckney, Michigan, where they spent the next 19 years pastoring, developing mission stations and teaching. For this work Ezra was ordained in the Fort Wayne Church where they were married six years earlier. In addition to his work in Michigan, Ezra was assistant to Gospel Evangel editor J. S. Hartzler. Taking the editor’s post himself in 1945, he remained in the position for the Indiana-Michigan Conference periodical until 1974. In that role he was a conference leader; one of his editorials is credited with inspiring the beginning of the widely-known Michiana Mennonite Relief Sale.

The family’s move back to Goshen in 1957 brought more education and teaching for Ezra. He did further study at Goshen Biblical Seminary in religious education. Next, he enrolled at Western Michigan University to develop his guidance and counseling skills while serving a 10-year stint as a teacher in the Elkhart Community Schools.

In 1966, the Mission Board again called upon him, this time to develop “bookrack evangelism” through the Board’s Choice Books program. Begin ning from scratch, Ezra had established more than 70 bookracks in various places when he retired from his work in 1978.

Following the couple’s move to Greencroft Retirement Center in 1979, Ezra continues to be active in the Lord’s work, helping with Bible lessons and visiting the sick.

Much of the Beachys’ lives have revolved around the Goshen community and the college, a relationship they have chosen to recognize through the Beachy Scholarship. Both Ezra and Bertha graduated from Goshen College, as did their four daughters, and Ezra noted that “we have appreciated our years at Goshen and our school experiences here.”

“We’ve been supporting the college and seminary through the years, and we felt a conviction to do something to promote the Bible department at the college,” he said. He added that a gift annuity is “a good way to perpetuate our interest in Christian education and interest in the Bible.”

Through their lives, the Beachys have been helping people and working for Christ, amassing a total of 54 years of teaching in the process. The Beachy Scholarship is just one more example of their commitment to Christian education and serivce, a light for others that will continue to shine for a long time.