Harriet Lapp Burkholder, a community leader and wife of the former Goshen College president, has passed away

GOSHEN, Ind. — Harriet Lapp Burkholder, a longtime community leader and the wife of former Goshen College President J. Lawrence Burkholder, died Thursday afternoon at the Greencroft Healthcare Center in Goshen after a long illness.

Burkholder, 92, was a community leader, a Sunday school teacher, a peace activist, a spokesperson for harmonious international relations and a volunteer who spent many decades supporting Goshen College. Her father, George J. Lapp, was the third president of Goshen College (1918-19).

A 1937 graduate of Goshen College, Burkholder was a key supporter of and fund-raiser for the college during her husband’s presidency from 1971 to 1984. She hosted many receptions for students, faculty, community members and donors, and along with Naomi Hunsberger and Beth Rieth helped establish the college’s popular Afternoon Sabbatical education program for the community.

Goshen College President James E. Brenneman and two of his predecessors today issued statements of condolences praising Burkholder for her many contributions.

“Harriet Burkholder was a great role model and leader who worked for many years to strengthen Goshen College as an alumna, as a key supporter and as the spouse of the president. She especially helped people from the community learn and connect with the college – something that remains central to the college’s mission,” Brenneman said.

“No leader at any level or position can succeed without the help, love and support of family members. President J. Lawrence Burkholder not only had Harriet’s love and support, but he also had an extraordinary life partner who loved Goshen College as much as he does. His many contributions to Goshen College, the church and the world are in significant part a tribute to Harriet’s support, assistance and counsel over the years. In her passing from this earth, we grieve with her family and remember the incredible life she led with great faith, commitment and love.”

Shirley H. Showalter, who served as Goshen College’s president from 1997 to 2004, said, “Harriet served Goshen College from the very center of her heart. She was very important to the Afternoon Sabbatical program and to all the work that Lawrence did on behalf of the college.

"She entertained students, staff, and faculty with grace, warmth and dignity. She focused her attention on each person as though he or she were the only person in her circle of care. She fostered vital relationships with major donors, but never did so at the expense of others. She lived and breathed the college’s motto: ‘Culture for Service.’”

Victor S. Stoltzfus, president at Goshen from 1984 to 1996, and his wife Marie remembered Harriet Burkholder as a gracious host and constant source of support for her husband and for her alma mater.

“Many people in our campus and community enjoyed being at her table as the first lady of Goshen College. In a highly successful campaign for deferred giving in the early 1980s, the last stop was at the president’s house to meet Lawrence and Harriet. Thanks, Harriet for your steadiness, grace and charm,” the Stoltzfuses said.

Burkholder was born March 31, 1915, in Calcutta, India, where her parents, Esther Ebersole Lapp and George J. Lapp, were missionaries. She attended Mt. Hermon School, a boarding school, in Darjeeling, India.

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree from Goshen College in 1937, she became one of the first women to get a bachelor of theology a year later from The Bible School, the forerunner to Goshen Biblical Seminary. She then spent a year in Chicago working in a city mission.

“She was really a woman before her time,” said Evelyn Kreider, Harriet Burkholder’s sister-in-law.

Burkholder married J. Lawrence in 1939 and they had four children: Myrna Burkholder (Goshen), Howard Burkholder (Boston, Mass.), Janet Friesen (Flint, Mich.), and Gerald Burkholder (deceased in 1981); and eventually two grandchildren: Erica Friesen (Chicago, Ill.) and Eliot Friesen (Cambridge, Mass.). The family lived in Princeton, N.J., and Gettysburg, Pa., for J. Lawrence’s seminary education; Croghan, N.Y., for a pastorate; Shanghai, China, for relief service; and Goshen and Cambridge, Mass., for Burkholder’s professorships at Goshen College and Harvard Divinity School. They returned to Indiana in 1971 when J. Lawrence became Goshen College’s 11^th president.

Harriet and J. Lawrence Burkholder were awarded the college’s “Culture for Service” Award in 1990. Her legacy will live on through her family and in the form of scholarships awarded at the college in honor of the Burkholders. Memorial gifts can be made to the J. Lawrence and Harriet Burkholder Merit Scholarship Fund at Goshen College.

Visitation will be from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 8 in the Koinonia Room of College Mennonite Church. The funeral service will be at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 9 at College Mennonite Church, followed by a meal. A private burial will be the following morning.

Editors: For more information about this news release or to arrange an interview, contact Richard R. Aguirre, Goshen College director of public relations, at (574) 535-7571 or rraguirre@goshen.edu.

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Goshen College, established in 1894, is a residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college’s Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron’s Best Buys in Education, “Colleges of Distinction,” “Making a Difference College Guide” and U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” edition, which named Goshen a “least debt college.” Visit www.goshen.edu.