Hilda Weber Carper, 94, died Dec. 22, 2021, at home in Evanston, Ill. She was born March 4, 1927, to Reuben and Eva Carper, on a farm in Lancaster County, Pa.
She attended Eastern Mennonite College for a year and finished her degree at Goshen College in 1950. She then accepted an assignment writing children’s church curriculum in Basel, Switzerland, with Mennonite Central Committee from 1953 to 1957.
From her contacts among Mennonite expatriates in Europe came an invitation from John Miller to become part of the intentional Christian community forming at Reba Place Fellowship in Evanston. But her skills were more needed at a sister church in Chicago’s inner city, so she volunteered instead at Church of Hope in Chicago’s West Side Christian Parish as a teacher, choir director and eventual pastoral assistant to Pastor Julius Belser. Urban renewal forced the church’s closure in 1966 when the Belsers and she moved to Reba Place.
There she organized the Reba Day Nursery, now known as the Reba Early Learning Center. In 1976 she assisted the growth of Reba Place Fellowship by taking on pastoral and administrative leadership as an elder and household leader. Worship life was enhanced by her work in compiling a songbook, making worship banners and singing in the music group. She eventually reunited with Julius and Peggy Belser in leading the Clearing Household in the early 1980s.
Contact with homeless people at the Clearing led her to seek a more structured way to support the needs of Evanston’s homeless. In 1984, her volunteer stint making breakfasts for overnight guests at Lake Street Church led to her becoming the first director of the Connections for the Homeless Shelter there until 1992. Residents began to say they lived at Hilda’s Place. When she retired, the name became official. In retirement, she designed greeting cards for sale, supported several justice endeavors and continued offering pastoral care.
Survivors include a sister, Jean Miller of Lititz, Pa.; and many nieces, nephews and “spiritual children.”
She was preceded in death by her brother, James Carper, and a sister, Ruth Eitzen.
Memorial services were held at Reba Place Church, Evanston.
