Leland and Joanne Voth celebrated 65 years of marriage on Sept. 2, 2015.
Leland grew up in China where his parents were missionaries with the General Conference Mennonite Church and later lived in Newton, Kansas. Joanne's home town is Bluffton. Joanne left Bluffton College for one year as an exchange student to Bethel College in North Newton, Kansas. She later graduated from Bluffton College. In 1950 they were married in the First Mennonite Church, Bluffton.
After their marriage Leland transferred to Bluffton College and later finished his Agriculture Education degree at Ohio State University. He taught at Freeman Jr. College in Freeman, S.D. for four years. Most of their lives (25 years) they have worked overseas: first at the Mennonite Central Committee's Vocational School for Orphan Boys in Korea for nearly 10 years followed by 25 years with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The Voth's served in Korea for 15 years, then worked with USAID in Laos for 2 1/2 years (until that country fell to Communism), on to the Congo (Zaire) for four years followed by an interim assignment in Washington, D.C., for five years. During the D.C. assignment Leland was responsibility for USAID agricultural work in Morocco and Jordan.
Their last overseas assignment was in Jamaica for four years. Three more years were spent in Washington, D.C., where Leland had responsibility for the agency's agriculture development work in Israel, The West Bank and Egypt. They retired first in Bluffton and after seven years there retired again in Harrisonburg, Va., where they have lived
for the last 14 years.
The Voths have four children: Nancy (Jerry) Suter, Pandora, OH; David (Laura)
Voth, Bluffton; Pamela (Merlin) Shank, Harrisonburg, Va., and Kevin Voth, Atlanta Ga. The Voths have eight grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.
