The Martha V. Yoder Scholarship Fund

Martha V. Yoder was born in Smithville, Ohio on July14, 1908.  She graduated from Goshen College in 1930 with preparation in elementary education.  She was a person with a spirit of adventure and a love of travel, and she taught for a year in a school on a Native American reservation in Arizona.  She then returned to Ohio to teach for several years before she began work in the accounting department of a greenhouse business owned by two uncles in Barberton Ohio.

Martha never married, but she was very committed to her extended family, caring for her parents for many years while living near a married sister.  In addition, she always was very involved with her nieces and nephews.  She traveled widely to Mexico, Canada, Africa and Western Europe.  She loved beautiful things, and enjoyed going to sales and collecting antiques with her two sisters.  She also continued her love of flowers throughout her life.

Martha moved to Goshen in 1990 and became a member of College Mennonite Church.  She was interested in the activities at Goshen College, and followed the educational experiences of her grand nieces and nephews wherever they were studying.  Having come to Goshen College herself with very little money, she wanted to be able to help current students in the same situation with her bequest.