The Dr. H. Clair and Florence Amstutz Scholarship Fund

Dr. H. Clair Amstutz and his wife Florence have been an active and integral part of Goshen College for the last 35 years. Both attended CC, where they learned that their Mennonite faith was something to be treasured.

Clair, who died February 1, 1984, graduated from the college in 1933 after completing a pre-medical program. Florence also went into the health field and entered a nursing program in Bloomington, Ill. They were married in 1934, and Florence worked as a nurse while Clair earned his degree at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis.

The young couple returned to Goshen College at the request of S. C. Yoder, who asked Clair to initiate a campus health service.  Along with a family practice in Goshen, Dr. Amstutz was primarily responsible for what is now the GC Health Center. Eventually Clair also taught biology courses. Florence contributed greatly to campus life by hosting many guests and international students.

Clair and Florence six children grew up in the Goshen community with occasional jaunts abroad. The first of these trips came in 1944 when the draft board called upon Clair’s medical services.

A lifelong advocate of peace and justice concerns, he opted for an alternative assignment in Puerto Rico, where he served as director of La Plata Hospital for three years. Florence joined him with their first four children halfway into his term.

Clair was also called upon by other service organizations to serve in Paraguay in 1963 and in Ethiopia in 1971-72. Also, Florence and Clair acted as SST leaders for CC in Honduras and Nicaragua.

In Goshen, the Amstutzes have a long record of community service as well. Clair worked with Mennonite Mutual Aid and their programs for the elderly and he chaired Mennonite Mental Health Services for 15 years.

Florence was the president of the Indiana-Michigan Women’s Missionary Service Commission for two years and served as an officer for the Mennonite Nurses’ Association.

The GC tradition is especially rich for Florence and Clair, whose six children graduated from the college. Several grandchildren are also CC alumni. Feeling that they have benefited greatly from Goshen College, they’ve made arrangements to pass on the CC experience through a scholarship fund.