Gordon Leo Harder, 76, of Mountain Lake, Minn., died May 16, 2025. He was born March 13, 1949, to Leo John and Ruth Anita (Burkhard) Harder.
After graduating from Mountain Lake High School in 1969, he attended Bethel College before transferring to the University of Minnesota. As this was during the Vietnam War, he enrolled in Pax as an alternative to military service. He served for a year in Bolivia before transitioning to Paraguay. There he met his soulmate, Eva S. Toews of Colony Menno. She was also a voluntary service worker through her local Mennonite mission committee. They married in the Mennoniten Gemeinde of Loma Plata on July 21, 1973. They served with Mennonite Central Committee and ASCIM (Association of Services within the Indigenous-Mennonite Cooperation) for numerous years, namely in agricultural development for the Campo Largo and Yalva Sanga Indigenous communities.
Farming and stockmanship were his lifelong passion. He began farming in Minnesota on his own in 1986 and spent more than 30 years working the soil, raising livestock, baling hay, fixing machinery and teaching practical life skills to the next generation.
He was a lifelong member of First Mennonite Church in Mountain Lake. An integral part of his identity was a lived-out faith of daily Christian discipleship, including nonviolence and simple living. He served in numerous leadership positions in the local congregation and area conference committees. Anabaptist-Mennonite life and thought were of great interest to him. He read and studied broadly and loved discussing these topics with others. Perhaps his greatest faith legacy was based on the biblical belief that followers of Jesus were not meant to strive merely for a future salvation but to live out their witness of a new heaven and earth every day.
He is survived by his wife, Eva; children Willmar (Hannah) of Buhler, Kan., Elisabeth (Ramont) of Mountain Lake and David (Rachel) of Hutchinson, Kan; and eight grandchildren.
