Mennonite Weekly Review

NORTH NEWTON, Kan. — Joanne Juhnke, a data librarian in Madison, Wis., and her father, James Juhnke, a retired historian in Wichita, know the value of documents.

The Juhnke family in August 2004 at Madison Mennonite Church on the occasion of the dedication of Joanne Juhnke and Michael Oakleaf’s youngest daughter, Miriam. Front, from left: James Juhnke holding Lydia Oakleaf, Michael Oakleaf, Joanne Juhnke holding Miriam Oakleaf, and Anna Juhnke. In the back are Karl Juhnke and his wife, Katie Hoody. — Photo provided by Bethel College

But as they began putting together documents from the life of Anna Kreider Juhnke, they discovered some unexpected gifts.

Anna Juhnke lived her early years as a Bethel College “campus kid” — her father, Leonard Kreider, taught chemistry there. She later studied at Bethel but graduated from Bluffton (Ohio) College. She met James Juhnke at an Intercollegiate Peace Fellowship conference in 1961. Anna returned to Bethel in 1966 as a member of the English faculty and taught at the college for 30 years.

Anna Juhnke was diagnosed with cancer in 1982 and died June 17, 2005. In addition to James and Joanne Juhnke, she was survived by a son, Karl.

“The July after Anna’s memorial service, Jim and I started sorting through her things, especially on the computer,” Joanne Juhnke said. “It seemed there was something publishable, useful beyond just our small family circle.”

Earlier this year, father and daughter self-published Speaking for Herself: The Autobiographical Writings of Anna K. Juhnke.

“Anna wrote a number of autobiographical essays, part of a broader pattern of documentation of various aspects of her life,” James Juhnke said. “Anna had written a substantial essay on her early years … and one on the journey with cancer. Those seemed to make an obvious beginning and ending.”

In between are shorter pieces, including Anna Juhnke’s memories of her children’s early years; a 1982 sermon at Bethel College Mennonite Church; several poems; a vespers meditation from a 1996 Jerusalem Seminar experience; a chapter from the 1996 Herald Press book Godward: Personal Stories of Faith; and reflections on being a woman leader in the Mennonite church, starting in the 1950s through 1996.

Anna Juhnke may have been the first Mennonite woman to earn a doctorate in English — in 1966, she was one of only a handful of Mennonite women to have achieved that degree in any discipline. She was the first woman to chair the Bethel faculty. Throughout her years at Bethel she was an advocate for women’s equality in faculty, staff and administration.

Anna Juhnke’s first churchwide position came in 1975 as the self-described “token woman” on the board of Mennonite Central Committee’s newly formed Department of U.S. Ministries. She continued to serve in MCC positions for the next number of years, including three years as chair of MCC U.S. She also spent 12 years on the General Board of the General Conference Mennonite Church.