Clydene Gingerich

C. Clydene GingerichSeptember 14, 1941 - December 15, 2018 On September 14th, 1941 Clyde H Jantz and Erma Mae (Loucks) Jantz welcomed their first child into their home in Canton, KS. She was soon joined by two siblings: LouAnn and Darrell. Their home was filled with great music. Born into a musical family, Clydene excelled at singing and throughout her life she sang solos in church and weddings as well as in a multitude of choirs and smaller ensembles. Clydene's mother, Erma played guitar, the organ and accordion and her dad Clyde, played the harmonica, so it was not uncommon to walk into their home and hear music. LouAnn and Clydene sang with Erma often with their voices ringing out so true and clear. Clydene graduated from Canton High School in 1959 and then attended Hesston College for one year. It was here where she met the love of her life, Kermit Dean Gingerich, who was from Idaho. They were married at Hesston Mennonite Church on September 3, 1960. From there they moved to Mountain Home Idaho to live in the "Wild West". While in Idaho, Clydene sang in several ensembles, sang solos at church, and began selling Avon. She enjoyed camping in the mountains almost every weekend with the family. Clydene and Kerm have two children, Kim (Bob) and Craig (Lori) and 4 grandchildren, Nathan, Allison, Jeremy and Rachael. Kerm and Clydene moved back to Hesston in 1974. At that point, Clydene began working at Hesston College and again became active members of Hesston Mennonite Church. Every Sunday, as soon as church concluded, Clydene would walk home quickly to put finishing touches on her roast or ham meals in which at least 6-7 other people were invited to Sunday Noon Dinner. Clydene extended her hospitality to hundreds of individuals throughout the world as she was truly a global citizen. She and Kerm traveled the world extensively. They lived and worked at Woodstock School (Mussoorie, India) and Seoul Foreign School (Seoul, S. Korea) where she was in Administrative Assistant roles. Their travels took them all over Asia and Europe and Brasil. They traveled so much they had to keep getting pages added to their passports! While Clydene easily cultivated deep friendships, her friendship with The Gang (see Gang members below) was like no other. This group of crazy fun-loving people got together often and took many weekend trips together. The relationships they have with each other are absolutely incredible. The Gang children even love hanging out with this group of hilarious, supportive people! And that's saying something! A big thanks to all of you who have supported our family as we navigated through Clydene's dementia. And a big thanks to the memory care unit at the villa and Harry Hynes Hospice whose kind, caring staff were absolutely amazing throughout these past few months.