Donald D. Kaufman, 90, died Dec. 18, 2023, at Kidron Bethel in North Newton, Kan. He was born Jan. 10, 1933, to David and Hulda (Graber) Kaufman and grew up on a farm in Marion, S.D.

He graduated from Bethel College and Mennonite Biblical Seminary, where he met Eleanor Wismer. They were married nearly 61 years before her death in 2019. They parented three children, Kendra, Galen and Nathan, who survive, along with three grandchildren. The couple adopted Nathan while serving with Mennonite Central Committee in Indonesia in the 1960s.

Don served as pastor in two churches in Minnesota and at Bethel College Mennonite Church in North Newton. He worked secular jobs after that, including managing housing for disabled people at Wheatland Homes in North Newton. He was a gardener and planted more than 50 trees around Sunset Elementary School near his home in Newton.

He will be remembered for his biblical and philosophical study and promotion of conscientious objection to military taxation. He supported peace tax legislation that would provide an alternative fund for taxes assessed to COs. He critiqued Mennonite institutions for their reluctance to break civil law that ordered them to collect the income taxes from employees who felt compelled to resist and redirect war taxes. He wrote two books, What Belongs to Caesar and The Tax Dilemma.

He was a founding member of the Heartland Peace Tax Fund group, which affiliated with the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee in the 1990s. He helped plan and host two national meetings in Kansas and served on the administrative committee. He helped lower his family’s tax liability by consolidating medical expenses, large charitable donations and other tax deductions every other year in order to take the maximum deductibles then, and then take the standard deduction in the alternate year, while living simply and generously. A tireless promoter of peace and nonviolent social change, he pricked the consciences of those who believed they must obey all laws of their country even if such laws contradicted God’s higher law. At times, his was a lonely stance.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. April 13 at Bethel College Mennonite Church. The service will be livestreamed.