Lloyd and Mildred Hartzler Scholarship Fund

“My mother envisioned that all of her seven children would go to college,” remembers Mildred Hostetler Hartzler. “Higher education was not that common in those days in our Mennonite community in Kansas.”

Both Mildred and her husband Lloyd Hartzler, who grew up near Garden City, Missouri, were encouraged by their parents to further their education. As students during the depression, school was financially difficult for them, as it was for many others. Lloyd remembers how he was permitted to give his ‘34 Plymouth in lieu of payment for his final semester at GC.

Lloyd Hartzler is the oldest in a family of three siblings. His mother had attended GC, and it is, therefore, not surprising that she encouraged her children to attend GC, too. All three graduated from Goshen.

One of the persons at GC whom both Lloyd and Mildred recall fondly is President S.C. Yoder. “He had a great influence over me,” remembers Lloyd. “S. C. registered concern, expressed empathy, and instilled confidence among the students. He was an accomplished administrator, preacher, and lawyer, yet was down—to-earth and “always interested in the individual.”

After attending school for a year, Lloyd became a teacher. He taught for the next four years in Missouri, attending summer and night school, part of thetime at GC, to complete his degree in 1938.

Mildred, or Mickie as she is known to friends, was born in Harper, Kansas. Her father was a mail carrier and a wheat farmer while her mother, active in church and community, was a homemaker. Mickie graduated from GC in 1936 with a degree in home economics. She then taught school in Kansas and Indiana.

Lloyd and Mildred were married in 1939. Both became licensed funeral directors. From 1940 until retirement in 1976, they were involved in what is now known as the Hartzler—Gutermuth Funeral Home.

Both the Hartzlers served on college-related committees and boards, and were active in service and business organizations and professional associations at the state and national levels.

Lloyd and Mickie have three daughters, all of whom graduated from a church related college. One is a GC alumna.

“I was always appreciative of the interest Goshen College took in students,” Lloyd reflects. “We have been blessed by the concern that GC has for people

The Hartzler’s have maintained close interest in GC and in 1987 funded the Lloyd and Mildred Hartzler scholarship, which is awarded to students on the basis of demonstrated financial need.

The endowed scholarship is both an expression of appreciation for their college experience and their wish to extend this experience to students at Goshen College.