Linn County News
Published Dec. 12, 2018
John Harold Rieder, 103, of Pleasanton, Kan., passed away Dec. 6, 2018.
John Harold was born on July 29, 1915, in Rosedale, Kan., at 4408 Mission Road in Wyandotte County. His parents, Gottlieb Rieder and Emma Suter, were born in Switzerland. His father was a dairyman. In the early 1920s he moved from Rosedale, Kan., to 79th and Quivera in Johnson County. By the time he was in high school, he joined his older brother in milking cows by hand, as they had no milking machine. He graduated from Shawnee Mission High School in 1933. By 1935, he took over his father’s milk route and delivered milk house to house in Wyandotte and Johnson counties.
He met his wife Grace in January 1937 when she was at Emporia’s Teachers College and a dear friend of his sister Louise. Grace was his blind date, and they began to correspond with one another. Grace taught school in a one-room school for two years, and they were married at the Lenexa Methodist Church on May 21, 1939.
Through the ministry of a Bible class on Tuesday nights at Lenexa Methodist, both Grace and John accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and they were born again, as Jesus spoke of in the Gospel of John in John 3:1-8.
In September 1942, they felt the call to prepare for full-time missionary ministry, so they enrolled at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Ill. In July 1943, he was called into the U.S. Navy in the Second World War and did his boot camp in Farragut, Idaho. In early 1944 he joined his ship, a destroyer Escort, in Hawaii. They did not have enough people on board to have a chaplain, so with the captain’s permission he was allowed, as it was, to be their pastor. They met in the mess hall on Sunday mornings.
Grace graduated in the spring of 1944 and had children’s ministry among the migrant people in the valley of Turlock, Calif., as she awaited John’s release from the Navy. They had received a call from foreign missionary work before he joined the Navy.
He was released from the Navy at the end of December 1945. In January 1946 they returned to Moody Bible Institute for more preparation for the mission field, and in September 1946 they joined their mission, WEC, the Worldwide Evangelization Crusade. In 1947 they were led of the Lord to join their mission workers in Ivory Coast, West Africa, to work in the Gouro tribe. After five month’s study of French in Montreal, Canada, they sailed for Ivory Coast and landed there on their ninth wedding anniversary in 1948. They spent 36 years ministering to the Gouro people and saw many churches established. They were asked by their mission to establish a Bible school in the Gouro language, which they did. John did everything necessary to plant churches such as evangelism, Bible teaching, taking teams to evangelize and helping to build their churches. Grace’s greatest ministry was to help translate the complete Bible in Gouro. Ivory Coast had more than 60 languages, and they had the first complete Bible in an Ivory Coast language, so in 1980 they had seven celebrations for it; the final one was in the capital.
They left their work in Ivory Coast in 1984 to take over the Shalom ministry on the farm where Grace grew up. They had 28 years of wonderful ministry at Shalom until God sent his angels to take Grace home to her rest in Heaven on Feb. 19, 2012. In May 2012 John went to spend time with the Fredrickson family at Heartland Ministries Int’l near Bethel, Mo. Heartland is a wonderful deliverance center for youth and adults, and he was very blessed of the Lord to have been there. Upon leaving Heartland, he returned to Linn County for the last six years of his life, living with the Shillito family at the Shalom Retreat Center and spending his final days at Prescott Nursing Home and The Residencies at Pleasanton.
The Lord is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, and John’s sentiments at the end of his life cannot be more appropriately described than through the words of the apostle Paul in Philippians 1:23-24 – “For I am in a strait between two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.” To God be the glory!
Visitation will be from 1-2 p.m., with the funeral service at 2 p.m. Friday, Dec. 14, at the First Christian Church, 613 Main St., Pleasanton. Burial will be at Wesley Chapel Cemetery.
Condolences may be left at www.charterfunerals.com. Arrangements: Charter Funerals, 816-921-5555.
OBITUARIES
Lillie Mae Jackson ~ 04-23-1928 to 10-22-2025
Linn County News Published October 29, 2025 Lillie Mae Jackson, Pleasanton, Kan., passed away on Oct. 22, 2025. Services will be held at the Pleasanton Chapel of Schneider Funeral Homes at 11:30 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. Visitation will be from... [More]
Monica Joy (Goebel) Mullins ~ 12-30-1965 to 10-20-2025
Linn County News Published October 29, 2025 Monica Joy Mullins, 59, of Fort Scott died Monday, Oct. 20, 2025, at the home of her father in Mound City, Kan. Monica was born on Dec. 30, 1965, in Kansas City, Kan., to Gary Richard and Eva May (Alumbaugh)... [More]
Kelly Renee Moore ~ 08-02-1963 to 10-13-2025
Linn County News Published October 22, 2025 Kelly Renee Moore, age 62 Paola, Kan., passed away at her home on Oct. 13, 2025. She was born the daughter of Ernest DeWayne and Neva Stillwagon O’Dell on Aug. 2, 1963, in La Mesa, Calif. Kelly loved... [More]
More Obituaries
- Norma Jeanne (Riley) Long ~ 08-21-1938 to 10-13-2025
- Geneva Darlene Jennings ~ 11-15-1939 to 10-12-2025
- Mary Margaret Wilson ~ 01-08-1930 to 10-13-2025
- Letha Spillman ~ 06-19-1929 to 10-02-2025
- Mary Alice Fagg ~ 07-30-1933 to 09-25-2025
- John T. Miles ~ 01-29-1960 to 05-01-2025
- Paul David Hamilton ~ 11-07-1950 to 09-23-2025
- Lora Lynn West ~ 10-22-1959 to 09-24-2025
NEWS
Former Zoning Administrator explains KORA requests
During the weekly meeting on Monday, Oct. 20, the Linn County Commissioners heard from former county employee Darin Wilson who served previously as the Planning and Zoning Administrator. Wilson told commissioners that the KORA (Kansas Open Records Act) requests he had made were... [More]
Pleasanton Council overrides mayor veto on firefighter appointments
The Pleasanton Council met at their regularly scheduled meeting Monday and Councilman Aaron Portmann immediately read a prepared statement concerning Ordinance 2065 that Mayor Mathew Young vetoed that tried to take appointment of firefighters from the mayor and put it on the... [More]
Snyder appointed Linn County Register of Deeds
Following the retirement of long-time Linn County Register of Deeds Kristy Schmitz, the Linn County Republican Central Committee held a convention Sunday to appoint a new Register of Deeds. Central Committee Chair Becky Johnson held the role call of committee people and 20... [More]
More News
- Blue Mound to apply for KDHE loan for sewer project
- Souza resigns county clerk post
- Farmers State Bank under new ownership
- Linn Valley council updated on water, lagoon projects
- Suit filed in Sunshine Meadows building permit case
- Pleasanton demos asphalt zipper for street repair
- La Cygne awards lift station bid
- Appraiser’s office announces completion of review
SPORTS
Prairie View football stays on top of their district with big win over Girard
The Prairie View Buffalos are in 3A District 2 and currently hold the number one seed in that district. The Buffalos 49-20 win over Girard gave them a great chance to be District champions. This week the Buffalos travel to Iola for their final district game and will seal the... [More]
Prairie View volleyball finishes season at Girard
The Prairie View volleyball team finished their regular season games at Iola this past week as they had a Pioneer League triangular against Iola and Osawatomie. They were in the 3A Regional quad at Girard on Oct. 20 and finished their season there going 1-2. To see the full... [More]
Jays lock in league runner up spot at Uniontown
Just as the week before, Pleasanton turned first-half takeaways into touchdowns and won at Uniontown last Friday night, 45-12, in a Three Rivers League and Class 1-A, District 1 matchup. The win assures the Blu-Jays of at least their third consecutive second-place finish in... [More]
More Sports
- Jayhawk football routs Southeast Cherokee
- Pleasanton volleyball goes 2-2 in final week of the regular season
- Schneider makes State for Hawks in girls’ golf
- Wade and Britz advance to State for the Buffalos
- Blu-Jays convert takeaways into Homecoming win
- Lady Jays host league triangular and competes at Uniontown
- Jayhawk volleyball has a busy successful week
- Jayhawk football wins thriller over Pleasanton on Homecoming
OBITUARIES POLICY
• May be mailed, e-mailed, faxed or hand delivered.
• Must be received by 9 a.m. on Tuesday morning in order to appear in that week's edition.
• Obituaries submitted by funeral homes will be billed to the funeral home.
• Full obituaries submitted by individuals are required to be paid in advance.
• Cost: $40 for 300 words or less. Each additional word over 300, 10¢. Photograph $5.
Call Barbara at 913-352-6235 or e-mail linncountynewsreporter@gmail.com
View Legals for Free
