Clarence Y. Fretz › Hymnals

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 23 May 1996 p. 11

text of obituary:

Clarence Y. Fretz, 85, of Hagerstown, Md., died Feb. 22, 1996. He was born Feb. 3, 1911, to William D. and Hannah Yoder Fretz. He was a minister for the Lancaster Conference (MC), a teacher and a writer, always with the goal to serve the Lord. He acquired a teaching certificate from Millersville State University in 1929 and completed a bachelor of arts at Muhlenberg College 1934. He earned a bachelor of theology degree at Eastern Mennonite University in 1937 and studied at Goshen College in 1938. He taught elementary school in Franconia and Lancaster Counties, Pa. He served as a relief volunteer, giving food to children in Spain during the Spanish Civil War in 1938-39. He was ordained as a minister at Norris Square Mennonite Church in Philadelphia, June 16, 1940, and married Lela Eshleman of Washington County, Md., Sept. 15, 1940. In 1941 he completed a master's degree in religious education at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

After eleven years as a minister in Philadelphia, he served in mission work in Luxembourg from 1951 to 1955. He taught at Lancaster Mennonite High School in 1955-56 and at Eastern Mennonite University from 1956 to 1959. In 1961 he completed a master's degree in education at James Madison University. As the first principal at Paradise Mennonite School, Hagerstown, from 1959 to 1982, he assisted in developing the curriculum and taught several courses.

Pursuing his longtime interest in Mennonite history and hymns, he published Anabaptist Hymnal in 1989. He spent the final years of his life with his wife at Huyetts Mennonite Fellowship Home near Hagerstown. He is survived by his wife, Lela Eshleman Fretz; four children, Lois Fretz Keener of Hagerstown, Rachel I. Fretz of Los Angeles, Paul C. of Marion, Pa., and Esther L. Fretz of Denver, Colo.; a sister, Grace Fretz of Dublin, Pa.; and six grandchildren.

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