Elmer J. Diller

GALLION &045; Funeral services for Elmer Jay Diller, 87, will be 10:30 a.m. today at Cedarcrest Mennonite Church of God in Christ on 5627 County Road 12 off Hwy. 25 North in Faunsdale with the Revs. Harold E. Schmidt, Maynard Peters and Doug Benner officiating. Burial will follow in Cedarcrest Cemetery with Kidd-Robbins Funeral Directors of Demopolis in charge of arrangements. The Diller family will receive friends at the Cedarcrest Mennonite Church from 6:30 until 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 20, 2007.

Elmer Jay Diller was born to Harvey and Rachel Johnson Diller on April 18, 1919 in Gratiot County, Mich. died at his home, on March 18, 2007, at the age of 87. He suffered from Alzheimer’s disease during the last five years of his life.

His early years were spent in Gratiot County where he also received his formal education. At the age of 16, he gave his heart to the Lord and was baptized into the Church of God in Christ, Mennonite on April 25, 1935 by the Rev. Frank Haynes.

As a youth growing up, he helped his father on the family farm, using horses to till the soil.

As a single young man he served in Christian public service for almost four and a half years; first in Denison, Iowa in soil conservation work, and later at North Fork, Calif., working for the Forestry Service in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

On November 14, 1948 he was married to Lois Miller at Ithaca, Mich.. The couple shared 58 years of marriage. They reared one daughter and two sons. As a young married couple they lived on the Harvey Diller farm milking cows for a few years.

In July of 1953, Diller was inspired to move to the Louisville, Ga. area where he and his wife bought a farm and operated a dairy for 24 years. In Georgia, they raised their children.

In February of 1977, they were led to move to the Faunsdale community where a new congregation was forming. Here he raised soybeans and corn, and later grew catfish for a living.

He loved to sing. It was so much a part of his life. Whether it was leading songs in the congregation or singing with others, he would do it with convictions.

Survivors include his wife; one daughter, Patricia and husband, Calvin Unruh of Murray, Kent.; two sons, Kenneth and wife, Faith of Gallion and Steve and wife, Sandra of Knightdale, N. C.; seven grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren; one brother, Edwin and wife, Helen of Walnut Hill, Fla.; three sisters, Norma Litwiller and Myrtle Gearig, both of Ithaca, Mich., and Violet Wilson of Moundridge, Kansas; and many nieces, nephews and friends.

He was preceded in death by his parents, one sister and one brother.

Pallbearers will be Brad Unruh, Loren Diller, Gary Diller, Kelvin Diller, Nathan Diller, Virgil Litwiller, Ervin Gearig and Florence Davis.

The Diller family will accept flowers or donations may be given in memory of Elmer Jay Diller to The Cedarcrest Memorial Fund, Route 2 Box 279B, Uniontown, Alabama 36786.