In Polite Company

In Polite Company

In the Name of Ruth Bender

A long history of abuse at Hesston College demands recognition and answers

Sarah Stankorb's avatar
Sarah Stankorb
Jun 09, 2023
∙ Paid
Ruth Bender, graduation photo, Hesston College, 1927.

In 1930, at a revival meeting, a pastor named Maurice “M.A.” Yoder asked a 27-year-old woman named Ruth Bender to confess her sins. She described what her father D.H. Bender would later admit to as “fornication” with Ruth when she was a teen.

At the time she spoke up, Ruth was teaching French and Latin…

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