David Goerz was the eighth of twelve children, only three of whom reached maturity. He was born on June 2, 1849, to Heinrich and Agnes Goerz at Neu Bereslow, near Berdiansk on the Sea of Azov, South Russia.
His father, a German Mennonite colonist, was apprenticed to a blacksmith in his youth and later was an overseer holding a responsible position at Kertch, then at the village of Schardau, in the Mennonite colony east of the Molotschnaya.
David attended the village school and later became an outstanding student at the Ohrloff Vereinsschule, preparing to teach and preach as was his mother’s wish. He had to earn part of his way through school.
At sixteen, David took up surveying. At eighteen he was baptized and began six years of teaching.
At twenty-four, Goetz emigrated to America, settling temporarily at Summerfield, Illinois, where he taught two years. Soon, he became secretary of the Mennonite Board of Guardians which was instrumental in locating thousands of immigrants in Central Kansas.
In February 1875, he founded in Summerfield a German paper, Zur Hcimath, which in December of that year, he removed to Halstead, Kansas, where he also started a bookstore and prospered financially.
He identified himself with Mennonite Conference work in 1876 and was either secretary or moderator of the district for many years. In 1878, he was ordained as a Mennonite minister. Two years later, he organized the Mennonite Mutual Fire Insurance Company, the first in Kansas.
His poetical and musical inclinations led him to help in the preparation of a German church hymn-book. He was interested in the cause of higher education, was one of the organizers of the Bethel College Corporation and for many years served it as secretary, treasurer, and solicitor.
In 1893, when the school opened, he removed to a residence on the campus at Newton, Kan. , where, in 1896, he started and edited the School and College Journal. He organized and became pastor of the campus church in 1897.
Two years later, the Conference sent him to India to distribute a large shipment of corn in the famine area and to investigate foreign-mission possibilities.
He located the field around Champa, where the Mission to the Lepers was later established. There the need of suffering humanity was burned into his soul and he vowed if brought safely home, to devote his energies to establishing an institution of mercy.
He lived to see the Bethel Deaconess Home and Hospital, Newton, Kansas, become a reality in 1908.
In 1910, his iron nerves gave way. To regain his health he and his wife traveled abroad. On their return, they removed to California, where he died and was buried in Hollywood Cemetery.
David Goerz was a great organizer, inspirer, and leader in the various realms of a cultural, educational, missionary, and relief enterprises of the Mennonites of the prairie states in the pioneer days. What has been realized on a large scale in our day was visualized and planned by him by the beginning of the 20th century. David Goerz was one of the founders of the Bethel College Corporation and served as its first business manager until 1910. Under his influence, the Board of Directors of Bethel College in 1903 organized the Bethel Deaconess Home and Hospital Society, which later became an independent institution. He was also instrumental in promoting better music among the Mennonites of the prairie states.
Mennonite
David was a dreamer, but his visions always took practical shape. Naturally reticent, he had but few intimates.
Though he was deeply attached to his family, his urge to serve was so insistent that he left home and traveled from coast to coast seeking support for good causes. Facile of pen and forceful of speech, a hard driver of self and of others, he either repelled or convinced.
He could brook no opposition, and he had no successor.
On June 21, 1871, when David was just past twenty- one, he married Helen Riesen, daughter of a Prussian cabinetmaker. She became the mother of his nine children and his lifelong helpmeet.
17 May 1851 - 7 November 1928
1882 - 20 August 1958
1 November 1874 - 21 June 1953
1887 - 7 March 1958
17 October 1876 - 10 July 1945
