Lawrence Unruh, 89

Lawrence Unruh was born to Odes B. Unruh and Sadie Jantz Unruh on Dec. 9, 1923, in Montezuma, Kan.

He peacefully passed away at the Sunset Home, Bonners Ferry, Idaho, on May 27, 2013, at 89, following several months of sickness due to cancer.

Services were held on May 30, 2013, at Mountain View Mennonite Church, Bonners Ferry, Idaho.

Lawrence, the oldest of five children, grew up in the Copeland area, attending West Banner School for six years and helping his father on the family farm.

At 17 he answered the Lord’s call and gave his heart to God. Upon the confession of his faith, he was baptized into the Church of God in Christ, Mennonite by Frank Wenger on Feb. 11, 1941. He loved the Lord and firmly embraced the faith until the end.

The dry and dusty years of the 1930s which threatened his mother’s health, prompted the family to move to the clean air and blue skies of North Idaho. On the bench land above Bonners Ferry, the family settled on a 40-acre stump ranch in May 1936.

While finishing his schooling at Pine Grove School, now the Northside Bed and Breakfast in Bonners Ferry, he began working for Simon McDonald, a job that lasted for many years.

During off times Lawrence and his father busied themselves by making railroad ties for Union Pacific at $2 a tie. They also made firewood, selling it in town at $3 a cord. Boxcar loads were also shipped to Spokane. Further jobs included dairying, supplemented with logging.

After dairying with his brother Chet for several years on the home place, he went to work for Bonners Ferry Builders for 11 years.

Shortly after Lawrence’s baptism, he served two years as a conscientious objector in Downey, Idaho, Terry, Mont., and Livermore, Calif., as a camp cook. A time or two he was able to get a pass to visit a special young lady in Winton, Calif. He was discharged September 1946.

On Jan. 1, 1947, Lawrence was united in marriage to Rachel Regehr in Winton, Calif. They enjoyed life together for 66 years, opening their home to a foster daughter, Cynthia Beasley, and to their niece Celia. Also a number of boarders added zest to their home in the 1960s and 1970s, including Aldo Klassen, Bill Kahn, Willie Peachey, Rachel’s brother Johnny and nephew Brian Regehr.

Lawrence and Rachel spent their lives in service, including the Gallup Care Home in Gallup, N.M.; in Guatemala after a major earthquake there in the 1970s, followed by several mission terms in the Philippines during the late 1970s and much of the 80s.

These were blessed years where they enjoyed being laborers together with God in sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Here they formed many friendships that they treasured for the rest of their lives.

Part of their hearts they left in the Philippine islands when they returned home to their retirement years in Bonners Ferry.

There was much to keep Lawrence busy on the old home place, like puttering around with his old tractor bringing in the hay, or restoring the old threshing machine someone left parked on the place. Finally he had it purring along so he could thresh one more crop.

He was also Rachel’s right-hand man in their yard and garden where they created a little heaven below. Since he was also handy in the kitchen he liked to invite the family in to share his favorite old time meal ... chicken and dressing. Daily trips to the market started in the Philippines and continued back home in Idaho.

Visitors from across the continent were often guests in their home. Together they traveled the road of life and were a friend to man.

His willing testimonies in church and faith-filled prayers were a testament to his quiet life within and left one inspired with new courage for the way. He prayed unceasingly for his loved ones and for the work of the church. In later years he prayed to the Lord saying, “Be with us in the sunset years of life and then take us home where we can be with You and praise Thee throughout the endless ages of eternity.”

Part of that prayer was answered in their last move to Sunset Home where they were welcomed and cared for so kindly by the workers who took them into their hearts. They and the family are grateful.

Those left to cherish fond memories are his grieving wife Rachel; foster daughter Cynthia and Everett James; niece Celia; special friends, Verle and Grace Giesbrecht and family, Lewisville, Ga., and Dean and Paula Fredlund, Salmon Arm, British Columbia, the Gallup girls who still call him “Papa,” and two faithful helpers at the home place before they had to move away, Lorraine Williams and Phyllis Wedel; one sister Opal Dirks; brother Odes and Jeraldine Unruh of Bonners Ferry, Idaho; brother Chester of Nampa, Idaho; two sisters-in-law, Cornelia and Gerald Mininger and Lovina Regehr, of Greeley, Colo.; brother-in-law Leonard and Dessie Regehr of Filer, Idaho, and many beloved nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents, one infant sister, one sister-in-law, and one brother-in-law.