Laura H Weaver

Laura H. Weaver was born December 14, 1931, in New Holland, Pennsylvania to Margaret (Hursh) Weaver and Jacob S. Weaver. She died in Evansville, Indiana on April 18, 2025, at 93. A long and storied life stretched between those two points.

Laura grew up in a Conservative Mennonite home in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Her mother encouraged her education and learning. Laura loved books from a very early age and wished every day could be a school day.

Laura graduated from Manor-Millersville High School in 1949, then graduated from Eastern Mennonite College in Harrisonburg, Virginia in 1955 with a B.A. in secondary education. This led to her first teaching experience. Laura taught English at Belleville Mennonite School in Belleville, Pennsylvania from 1955-1957 and developed friendships with her students and their families that lasted a full 70 years until her death.

She went on to receive a master’s degree in English in 1959 from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia before teaching at Eastern Mennonite College and then at Bluffton College in Bluffton, Ohio. Eventually, Laura found her way to the University of Kansas where she received a Ph.D. in English in 1977. During this period of her life, Laura lived what she called a rebellious delayed adolescence. Laura regularly told stories about these experiences and drew from them in her writing.

Laura landed at the University of Evansville in Indiana where she taught in the English department from 1980 until her retirement in 1999. In her academic life, she wrote articles on Mennonite women and work. She also explored her own questions of identity related to her journey from early life in a conservative Mennonite community to life among more liberal Mennonites. Her gradual decision to stop wearing a Mennonite head covering remained symbolic of this change.

Laura described herself as a life-long Mennonite who found a religious home at both Patchwork Central and First Presbyterian Church in Evansville. For many years, she sang with the First Presbyterian choir.

Laura was the keeper of birthdays for everyone in her life. She loved flavorful food, a handsome cat, a good book, a bawdy joke, a good four-part Mennonite hymn, and a clever conversation. She was always gracious and delighted in every small kindness.

Laura was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Dorcas (Weaver) Herr, and her ex-husband Timothy Whitcomb.

Laura leaves behind a global network of countless friends, colleagues, and former students; her second family among the Patchwork Central Worship Community; and her biological family: four nieces and a nephew and their children and grandchildren.

Laura’s family held a graveside service with her burial in Pike Mennonite Cemetery in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. A memorial service will be held at Patchwork Central, 100 Washington Avenue, Evansville on Saturday, May 10 at 2:00 pm. The memorial service will be livestreamed on the Patchwork Central Worship Facebook page.

Memorial contributions may be made to Patchwork Central.

Condolences may be offered at www.AlexanderWestChapel.com.