Funeral services for Lenora Jean Penner of Moundridge, Kansas formerly of Rich Hill, Missouri will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, May 28, 2025 at Bethany Mennonite Church in Rich Hill, Missouri. Burial will follow in the Bethany Mennonite Cemetery in Rich Hill. Visitation will be from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, May 27, 2025 at the church. Contributions may be made to Moundridge Manor in care of Moundridge Funeral Home, PO Box 410, Moundridge, KS 67107. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the Schowengerdt Funeral Chapel in Butler, Missouri (660-679-6555). Online condolences www.schowengerdtchapel.com.
Our mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Lenora Jean Penner, was born February 27, 1934, at Montezuma, Kansas, to Ervin F. and Luella Schmidt Harms. She passed on to her reward May 22, 2025, at Moundridge Manor, Moundridge, Kansas, at the age of 91.
Mom was third in a family of seven sisters. Her childhood was spent at Montezuma, where she received her elementary and high school education. Feeling God’s call, Mom surrendered her heart to the Lord and was converted. She was baptized February 10, 1946, by her father, Minister Ervin F. Harms. She was very sincere in her Christian life and was faithful until the end.
Out of a desire to teach school at the Greasewood Mission in Arizona, she took the required classes at Hesston College. While attending college, she received a marriage proposal, which changed her focus. On July 20, 1952, she was joined in marriage to Earvey A. Schmidt at Montezuma, Kansas. They made their home at Rich Hill, Missouri. As a young couple, they spent time at Tucumcari, New Mexico, for Earvey’s time of alternative service, then went back to Rich Hill and settled into farming. A daughter, Carolyn, was born to them. On April 2, 1956, Earvey died as a result of being struck by lightning.
In the spring of 1957, Mom became acquainted with Stanley Penner from Rosenort, Manitoba. They were married on July 14, 1957. Four more children were born, giving them five altogether. They enjoyed 67 years of the joys and sorrows of life. Soon after marriage, our parents served a year at the mission at Greasewood, and then they spent two years in the mission work at San Rafael, Mexico. When they returned from Mexico, they settled on the farm at Rich Hill, Missouri. In 1969, we as a family went back to Mexico to serve another term in the mission work, returning to Rich Hill again at the end of the mission term.
Mom lovingly cared for her family by cooking delicious meals and listening to our hearts. She was a lover of hospitality, and we often had company around our table. Enjoying gardening, Mom liked to get her seeds out early in the spring. Mom used her God-given talent to compose many poems and songs, often remembering widows with a special poem. She learned speedwriting and wrote down many sermons. She dearly loved all her grandchildren and often put little tokens of her affection in letters and birthday cards.
In about the year 2001, Dad and Mom served in the mission in Houston, Texas, where they became acquainted with Pablo and Chely Vargas, and they became close friends and claimed each other as family. In 2008, folks moved off the farm into Rich Hill for their retirement years.
Due to declining health, Dad and Mom became residents of Moundridge Manor in December of 2023. In August 2024, Mom lost her dear son, Milton. In January 2025, her husband Stanley left this life, breaking her heart. Even through her sorrow she kept her sweet spirit. She recently expressed to us her trust in God for her salvation. We believe she has entered her eternal rest.
Left to mourn her passing are her sons, Charles and Lois, Macomb, MO; and Brent and Rita, Moundridge, KS; daughters, Carolyn and Paul Leatherman, Walker, MO; and Janice and Rene Penner, Welsford, NS; daughter-in-law, Avis Penner, Jamesport, MO; special family who she called children and grandchildren, Pablo and Chely Vargas and family; special friend Anne Eason; 24 grandchildren; 45 great-grandchildren; sisters Marjorie and Lincoln Koehn, and Beatrice Jantz, Montezuma, KS; brother-in-law Gerald Becker, Moundridge, KS; brother-in-law Roland and Doris Penner; sisters-in-law, Gladys and Sherwin Friesen; Joyce Penner; Joanne Penner; Helena and Glenn Schneider; Stella Penner; and many nieces and nephews and friends. She was preceded in death by both husbands; her parents; son, Milton; and four sisters.
