Artur Bachmann

A celebration of life for Artur "Art" H. Bachmann, 88, of Kalona, will be held Monday, August 13, 2018 at 10:30 AM at Kalona Mennonite Church with Pastor Scott Swartzendruber officiating. Burial will follow at the Sharon Hill Cemetery in Kalona. The family will greet friends from 4-6PM Sunday, August 12 at Kalona Mennonite Church. A memorial fund has been established for MCC/Ukraine Emergency Response. Art Bachmann died Wednesday, August 8, 2018 at Pleasantview Home in Kalona. The Peterseim Funeral Home is assisting the family.

Artur Heindrich Bachmann was born July 27, 1930 in Falkenstein, Ukraine, the son of Rudolf and Christine (Schweitzer) Bachmann. After being forced to leave their homes as a result of German and Russian occupation, they moved to a resettlement camp, later a farm west of Warsaw, and ended up in SW Germany in a Mennonite immigration camp. With the help of MCC they were then able to gain passage to the United States where they were sponsored by local Amish families. Art gained his US citizenship in 1950. He served in 1W as an orderly in a hospital in Des Moines in the mid 1950's. On April 7, 1957 he was united in marriage to Fern Johns in Oklahoma. He worked as a farmer and carpenter, working for Earl Yoder Construction and later for Frantz Construction.

He was a charter member of the Kalona Mennonite Church where he served as a trustee for many years, and a former member of the Kalona Optimist Club. Art enjoyed working with his hands, and was involved in a number of MDS, MCC and Habitat for Humanity projects, the later of which included a trip to Texas to build houses.

Survivors include his wife Fern of Kalona, three children: Jim Bachmann of Iowa City, Linda Kay Bachmann of Kalona, Carolyn (Atlee) Yoder of Kalona, two grandchildren: Nathaniel (Andrea) De Avila of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Allison Yoder of Iowa City, one sister Tillie (Norman) Kennel of Iowa City and a brother-in-law John (Marilyn) Christner of Burlington, IA

Preceding Art in death were his parents and one sister Nellie Christner.