Maurene Koehn Unruh

Mrs. Norman (Maurene) Unruh passed away on Sunday, July 11, 2021, at Oakwood Manor in Brooksville, MS.  A funeral service will be held Thursday, July 15, 2021, at 10:30 a.m. at South Haven Mennonite Church near Macon MS. Interment will follow in the church cemetery. A visitation will be held at the church Wednesday from 6:30 until 8:30 p.m. with the family present at the church. Memorials may be made to Oakwood Manor, 55 Oakwood Drive, Brooksville, MS  39739. Cockrell Funeral Home is honored to be entrusted with arrangements.

Maurene Unruh was born to Ben and Mable Koehn on October 23, 1933 at Montezuma, Kansas. Maurene was the third child in a family of ten children. Her childhood and teen years were spent at Ingalls, KS.  She received her education from the East Banner school in Haskell County, Kansas. Even though born in difficult years, she had fond memories of helping her father and growing up on the family farm and doing the many different things that needed to be done. She also found enjoyment being employed by St. Catherine’s Hospital in Garden City, KS.  As a young lady she felt the Lord’s call to repentance and was baptized on April 14, 1946 by Minister Orlan Wedel.  She thus became a member of the Church of God in Christ, Mennonite and was faithful to those vows until death.

She found her life’s companion in Norman Unruh.  They were married on September 16,1956 and shared life’s joys and sorrows for over sixty four years.  Their first years together were in a little house on Lincoln Unruh’s yard.  Then they found employment for another farmer at Ulysses, Kansas, living there for eight years. Opportunity beckoned from Mississippi, so they made the move to Macon, Mississippi. Here they made their living with row crop , fish and cattle farming.   To this union were born two sons and four daughters. Mom found joy in the journey raising their family even in the face of difficulty.

Mom was a person that enjoyed the quiet family life, taking great delight in cooking and caring for her children and grandchildren. The children and grandchildren found a quiet refuge in her home and always felt her love surrounding them.  She was a reader of her Bible which served her to a great advantage, especially in the closing days of her life, repeating those passages that she had committed to memory.  Her Saviour was precious to her and she looked forward to the day she would be able to hug Jesus. As age and her limitations increased, it appears she grew weary with not being able to enjoy the things that were important to her. She was deeply appreciative of the care provided for her by the administrator and nursing staff of the Oakwood Manor.  Her desire to go and be with the Lord became more intense, always leaving a clear testimony that her life was in order.

Those who will miss her most are her husband, Norman, Oakwood Manor, Brooksville, MS; children: Pamela (Dana) Giesbrecht, Dumas, Arkansas; Dorsey (Lynda) Unruh, Macon, Mississippi; Myron (Shelia) Unruh, Macon, Mississippi; Regina (James) Unruh, Crawford, Mississippi; Chloe (Earl) Base, Galva, Kansas; and Deandra (Doug) Schneider, St. Marys, Ontario, Canada; twenty grandchildren and fifteen great-grandchildren; four brothers, DeeWayne Koehn, Brookston, Texas; Verlin Koehn, Dalhart, Texas; Marvin Koehn, Ingalls, Kansas; Lee Koehn, Othello; Washington; four sisters, Inez and Lorena Koehn, Montezuma, Kansas; AnnaLe Koehn, Gentry, Arkansas; Vera Wiebe, Almena, Wisconsin. Preceding her in death were her parents, one brother Ervie Koehn and one sister-in-law, Jeanie Koehn.