Harold Regier

Harold Richard Regier was born November 21, 1931, the youngest and only son of five children born to Albert and Selma Penner Regier.

He was raised on a farm two miles south and a half mile east of Burrton, Kansas. Born during the depression, he and the family lived frugally. Yet, there was always food. Church, school, and work were the normal fare of his growing up years. Beginning at age 11, he worked the fields with a 1942 C-Allis Chalmers tractor., He eventually reclaimed that very tractor, purchased new in 1942 by his father and had it fully restored. Later in life, he loved to teach his grandchildren how to drive it.

Harold graduated from Burrton High School in 1949. After one year of college, at age 18, he began what he thought would be a teaching career. He taught for three years (1950-1953) in a one-room school in rural Elbing, Kansas. He often joked about majoring in recess and Christmas programs!

In 1953, Harold entered 1W Voluntary Service, an alternative to military service in Gulfport, Mississippi. For two years he absorbed the realities of racism in a legally segregated society. What he saw and experienced shaped his desire to spend his life working for peace and justice.

While attending Bethel College he met Rosella Ruth Wiens, a student from Inman, Kansas. They were married on July 7, 1957. Harold graduated from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana in 1961. Upon graduation. Harold and Rosella accepted an invitation from the General Conference Mennonite Church Board of Missions to return to Gulfport where they served throughout the 1960’s. During their time in Gulfport, they adopted two children, Steven and Sharon.

In 1971, the family moved to Newton, Kansas and Harold began service to the General Conference Mennonite Church as Secretary for Peace and Social Concerns. Nine years later, he became the Director of Offender Victim Ministries, which became a Newton based restorative justice, interfaith agency to address and respond to the needs of both offenders and victims of crime. He served there for 17 years, retiring in 1998. During his time with OVM, he saw hundreds of inmates find new hope and encouragement from volunteers and literally thousands of sponsor-inmate visits. He also served as pastor of the Walton Mennonite Church from 1980-1984.

During his tenure at OVM, Harold received the Dr. Karl Menninger Award presented by the Kansas Department of Corrections on October 29, 1991, for “Outstanding Contributions to Corrections”, a plaque recognizing his work presented by prisoners organized as the “Rock Castle Jaycees”, an award “In appreciation for more than 17 years of loyal and dedicated service to the State of Kansas, Kansas Department of Corrections, and Hutchinson Correctional Facility”. He also received the first annual peacemaking award from KIPCOR (Kansas Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution).

After retirement, Harold traveled and had fun grandparenting. Especially rewarding were special “grandparent weeks” in which Harold and Rosella could spend quality time with grandchildren.

Harold always felt privileged to have had the opportunity to serve in Christian ministry in what, using Carl Sandburg’s words, was a “road less traveled.” He was aways grateful for the blessings of this journey and for the many who travelled this road with him.

In 2009 when Rosella was 76 and Harold was 78, Rosella experienced a stroke that took away her ability to effectively communicate. For 13 years Harold struggled with ways to help Rosella communicate her story. This led to the development of a technique he called “Aphasia Friendly Reading”, which gained national attention in the aphasia educational, therapy and research communities. Relationships Harold and Rosella developed with professors and students in Wichita State University’s Speech Language School were a highlight in their later years. In 2023, Harold was invited to speak at the national convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) in Boston and to the Kansas Speech-Language Hearing Association (KSHA) annual convention in Wichita in 2024.

Harold was preceded in death by wife of almost 65 years, Rosella Ruth Wiens Regier, his parents Albert and Selma Penner Regier, and his sisters Velma, Hilda, Elnora and Elizabeth. Survivors include son Steven (Marilyn), daughter Sharon and grand-children Madeline Dodier (Austin), Drake Regier and Claire Baram (Taylor).

A funeral service will be held at 11:00 am on Monday, April 28, 2025, at Faith Mennonite Church in Newton, Kansas.