Jake Nachtigal

Funeral Services were held 2:00 P.M., Friday, February 11, 1983 at the Evangelical Free Church in Aurora. Interment was held in the Mennonite Brethren Cemetery in Henderson, Nebraska.

OBITUARY: Jake Nachtigal

In Ps. 139 David declared that from his mother’s womb “all his days were ordained for him…because they were written in God’s Book.”

Believing that God’s sovereignty over all is exhibited by the details of His working in each of our lives, the family of J.C. Nachtigal gathers with you today to honor the memory of Jake on this occasion of his graduation from earth to glory! His tassel was moved to the other side of February 9, 1983! All glory belongs to God who purchased this graduate with the price of His Son’s blood. That sacrifice was offered on the cross so that Jake’s life on this earth could be concluded with a commencement = meaning a beginning into a new phase of eternal life – prepared for those who take God at His Word.

Among those who remain to anticipate a heavenly reunion upon their graduation are his wife, Bertha Ollenberger Nachtigal; two sons, Willis and Junior of Aurora; three daughters, Inez Heinrichs of Henderson, Doris Classen of Lincoln and Kathy Clayton of Lushton, Nebraska; one sister, Alma Crosley of Henderson; five brothers, Andy Nachtigal of Henderson, Ben of Reedley, California, Irvin, Dan and Ed, all of Fresno, California. 18 grandchildren are additional testimonies of God’s good and perfect gifts that this “Popo” and his wife “Nanny” are counting on as eternal assets because God has provided salvation to “those and their household” who believe in Jesus Christ alone as Saviour from sin. Someday, when all of these have graduated into His presence because they too have believed God’s promises, they will enter into the joy of Dad’s greatest hope and prayer come to pass – that each child and grandchild come to know the Savior!

“Summa cum laude” is already bestowed upon this graduate, by his underclassmen, so that hey may bring “with highest praise” our thanks to His Lord for preceding us to the glory of His presence by an exemplary life of faith in God!

We can only partially imagine the “pomp and circumstance” of “presence with the Lord” that our beloved and recent graduate experiences today with his father and mother, Henry and Elizabeth and brother, Victor and all those who have preceded us into God’s reward by having met the curriculum requirements. The teacher, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, declared in his manual of eligibility for graduation the following essentials: “Truly, Truly, I say to you, he who hears My Word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and does not come into judgment but has passed out of death into life” (John 5:24).

Jakes’ course through the school of this life began, as for many of us, with privileges of being taught the truth. But while hearing the Word, he was not changed from the rebellion of unbelief to the point of faith in Christ until at the age of 22 when Jake was traveling alone form Oklahoma to Nebraska. It wasn’t the Damascus road, but he stopped his Model T along that roadside and there was conviction that had been growing within him through childhood and youthful years spent in Henderson and Collinsville, all came to bear upon him. And so he knelt in prayer, acknowledging his sin that separated him from God. He now believed that Christ had died to pay the penalty for his sins. He asked Christ to take over his life and give him eternal life. Back into the car a new creature!…in a Model T…That’s awesome.

One year later found Jake enrolled in a new course that would require only a week less than 52 years to complete. Marriage to “the Bertha of his dreams” after five years of “off and on” courtship brought challenges and responsibilities to this rugged and determined pupil in the school of life.

Soon after marriage, Jake obeyed the Lord in making public his faith in Jesus Christ through the testimony of water baptism. Across the many years to follow, this hard-working farmer and son of the soil would find his greatest interest and satisfaction in serving the Lord through the local church. Not known for speed reading or letter writing, this man’s quick mind and ability to “think on his feet” and speak his thoughts made him a favorite Sunday school teacher (or at least a “frequent” one!).

Since Dad is now “absent from the body and present with the Lord, his children recall the following anecdotes from his earthly pilgrimage: -The highlight of his workday was the 4:00 P.M. “faspa” or lunchtime. We often thought he divided big fields into many small fields so that he could quickly “finish a field” before “faspa!” -“Tailgating” did not recently become popular at football games, but was already the “in thing” years ago as Mom & Dad spent pleasant moments and many of them eating sandwiches and drinking coffee out in the midst of God’s wide open world. -We’re convinced that “Popo” was able to spread himself equally thick (not thin) over 18 grandchildren! -Creating beautifully handdrawn Valentines for each one -Attending a ballgame or concert -Instigating a celebration dinner to celebrate anything -Coaching an athlete to more victories than any private tutor has ever known (or the kids will ever admit to….) *These items are only a sample of the report card marked: “Grandfather, you fulfilled a meaningful ministry. Thanks for being our patriarch!” “Thank you, Lord.”

Philosophically it has been said that all of us either “live to eat, or eat to live.” Jake “ate to live!” He ate a lot – and enjoyed that felloship around the table! At the same time, those close to him will not soon forget his daily prayers of compassion for those less fortunate, his regular support and prayer for orphaned children, his generous gift of giving sacrificially to the Lord’s work at home and abroad, his heart for evangelism of the lost, his constant prayer anticipating and longing for the coming of the Lord. Family, friends, neighbors, service organizations and schools stand today in honor of this graduate who has passed through the halls of this life for the last time – another trophy of God’s grace is now in proper place!

“This world is not his home!” Jake’s new residence is described by another one of his favorite songs, “Where the Roses Never Fade!”