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Arno Schwantes, graduation picture

Photo courtesy of Brazilian White Center – UNASP.

Schwantes, Arno (1913–1996)

By The Brazilian White Center – UNASP

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The Brazilian White Center – UNASP is a team of teachers and students at the Brazilian Ellen G. White Research Center – UNASP at the Brazilian Adventist University, Campus Engenheiro, Coelho, SP. The team was supervised by Drs. Adolfo Semo Suárez, Renato Stencel, and Carlos Flávio Teixeira. Bruno Sales Gomes Ferreira provided technical support. The following names are of team members: Adriane Ferrari Silva, Álan Gracioto Alexandre, Allen Jair Urcia Santa Cruz, Camila Chede Amaral Lucena, Camilla Rodrigues Seixas, Daniel Fernandes Teodoro, Danillo Alfredo Rios Junior, Danilo Fauster de Souza, Débora Arana Mayer, Elvis Eli Martins Filho, Felipe Cardoso do Nascimento, Fernanda Nascimento Oliveira, Gabriel Pilon Galvani, Giovana de Castro Vaz, Guilherme Cardoso Ricardo Martins, Gustavo Costa Vieira Novaes, Ingrid Sthéfane Santos Andrade, Isabela Pimenta Gravina, Ivo Ribeiro de Carvalho, Jhoseyr Davison Voos dos Santos, João Lucas Moraes Pereira, Kalline Meira Rocha Santos, Larissa Menegazzo Nunes, Letícia Miola Figueiredo, Luan Alves Cota Mól, Lucas Almeida dos Santos, Lucas Arteaga Aquino, Lucas Dias de Melo, Matheus Brabo Peres, Mayla Magaieski Graepp, Milena Guimarães Silva, Natália Padilha Corrêa, Rafaela Lima Gouvêa, Rogel Maio Nogueira Tavares Filho, Ryan Matheus do Ouro Medeiros, Samara Souza Santos, Sergio Henrique Micael Santos, Suelen Alves de Almeida, Talita Paim Veloso de Castro, Thais Cristina Benedetti, Thaís Caroline de Almeida Lima, Vanessa Stehling Belgd, Victor Alves Pereira, Vinicios Fernandes Alencar, Vinícius Pereira Nascimento, Vitória Regina Boita da Silva, William Edward Timm, Julio Cesar Ribeiro, Ellen Deó Bortolotte, Maria Júlia dos Santos Galvani, Giovana Souto Pereira, Victor Hugo Vaz Storch, and Dinely Luana Pereira.

 

 

First Published: July 22, 2021

Arno Schwantes was a professor and administrator in Brazil.

Arno Schwantes was born on March 5, 1913, in the city of Taquari in the central region of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.1 The son of Arthur João Schwantes (1876-1940) and Clementina (Kaercher) Schwantes (1878-1960), he had seven siblings: Edith Schwantes (Berger), Nelson Schwantes, Esther Schwantes (Boger), Iracema Schwantes, Nestor Schwantes, Selma Schwantes (Stockler de Lima), and Edgar Schwantes.2 His first wife was Irene Surerus, with whom he had two children: Haroldo Surerus Schwantes (1936-2014) and Vera Amelotti. His second wife was Lygia Schwantes, whom he married in 1959 after his first wife Irene passed away, and they had a son, Arno Schwantes Junior (died 1983).3

The Schwantes’ have a historical importance to the SDA Church in Brazil as one of the oldest Adventist families in Rio Grande do Sul. His grandfather by father, Ernest Julius Theodor Schwantes, emigrated from Germany to Brazil around 1870. He settled in the state of Rio Grande do Sul where, in 1874, he married Elizabeth Magdalena Adamy, with whom he had seven children. Lutherans, the family became acquainted with Adventism through a canvasser, Albert Stauffer. They were baptized in 1898 by Pr. Huldreich F. Graf in Alto Jacuí as part of a group totaling 19 people.4 Arno's father, Arthur, at the time didn’t agree with this decision, so he had to leave his home and was baptized four years later, in 1902.5

Arno grew up in an Adventist home and in 1932, he graduated in Theology from Brazil College (today UNASP-SP) in the city of Sao Paulo. Later, he studied accounting at the Alvares Penteado School of Commerce Foundation, also in Sao Paulo.6 He joined the Adventist work in 1936 when he accepted the invitation to be a treasury assistant at Brazil College.7 The following year, he worked in the administrative area as a cashier.8 From 1938 to 1941, he served as secretary-treasurer of the institution in addition to teaching in the Accounting course.9

Still in 1941, he accepted the call to work in the Sao Paulo Conference as secretary-treasurer and director of the Publications department, working in these roles until 1944.10 From 1945 to 1946, he was chief treasurer of the Brazil College.11 Then, he served as the company's financial administrator at the Brazil Food Factory (Superbom) in Sao Paulo until 1950.12

Arno Schwantes continued to live in the neighborhood of the Capao Redondo district in Sao Paulo, where he dedicated himself to the profession he learned from his father, who was a beekeeper. He created the brand Abinutri, producing honey and royal jelly. He passed away on June 28, 1996, in the city of Campinas in the state of Sao Paulo.13

Sources

Arno Schwantes. “Inauguração da Casa de Saúde Liberdade.” Revista Adventista 35, no. 8 (August 1940).

“Arno Schwantes.” Revista Adventista 92, no. 10 (October 1996).

Siqueira, Francisco Nunes. “Fim da Jornada.” Revista Adventista 56, no. 5 (May 1961).

Graf, H. F. “Travels in Rio Grande do Sul.” The Missionary Magazine 11, no. 6 (June 1899).

National Center of Adventist History Encyclopedia, http://www.memoriaadventista.com.br/wikiasd/index.php?title=Arthur_Jo%C3%A3o_Schwantes.

Prospecto anual do Colégio Adventista 1936-1941. In Collection of the National Center of Adventist History/Ellen G. White Research Center: UNASP-EC, Engenheiro Coelho, SP. Bookcase: 03. Shelf: 04. Box: “Prospectos CAB.” Accessed November 18, 2019.

Schwantes, Siegfried J. Professor toda a vida. 1ª edição, São Paulo, SP: Editora Universitária Adventista, 1990.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association. Various years. https://www.adventistyearbook.org/.

Waldvogel, Luiz. “Formatura no Collegio Adventista.” Revista Adventista 27, no. 11 (November 1932).

Westphal, A. L. “O fim da jornada.” Revista Adventista 35, no. 8 (August 1940).

Notes

  1. Lygia Schwantes, email message to Suelen A. Almeida, Engenheiro Coelho, São Paulo, November 13, 2019.

  2. A. L. Westphal, “Artur Schwantes,” Revista Adventista 35, no. 8 (August 1940): 14; Francisco Nunes Siqueira, “Clementina Schwantes,” Revista Adventista 56, no. 5 (May 1961): 38; Siegfried J. Schwantes, Professor toda a vida: uma autobiografia de Siegfried J. Schwantes, (São Paulo, SP: Instituto Adventista de Ensino, [19--?]), 8; “Arthur João Schwantes National Center of Adventist History Network, December 29, 2013, Accessed January 29, 2020, http://www.memoriaadventista.com.br/wikiasd/index.php?title=Arthur_Jo%C3%A3o_Schwantes.

  3. Siegfried J. Schwantes, Professor toda a vida, (São Paulo, SP: Editora Universitária Adventista, 1990), 36, 37; Lygia Schwantes, email message to Suelen. A. Almeida, November 18, 2019; Vera Amelotti, email message to Suelen A. Almeida, November 22, 2019.

  4. H. F. Graf, “Travels in Rio Grande do Sul,” The Missionary Magazine 11, no. 6 (June 1899): 238; Siegfried J. Schwantes, Professor toda a vida: uma autobiografia de Siegfried J. Schwantes, 8; “Arthur João Schwantes,” National Center of Adventist History Network, December 29, 2013, Accessed January 29, 2020, http://www.memoriaadventista.com.br/wikiasd/index.php?title=Arthur_Jo%C3%A3o_Schwantes.

  5. A. L. Westphal, “Artur Schwantes,” 14.

  6. Lygia Schwantes, email message to Suelen A. Almeida, Engenheiro Coelho, São Paulo, November 13, 2019; Luiz Waldvogel, “Formatura no Collegio Adventista,” Revista Adventista 27, no. 11 (November 1932): 7.

  7. E. H. Wilcox, “Notícias,” Revista Adventista 30, no. 3 (March 1935): 13; “Brazilian Training School,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D. C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1937), 231.

  8. “Brazilian Training School,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D. C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1938), 239.

  9. Prospectos anuais do Colégio Adventista 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941 (Collection of the National Center of Adventist History/Ellen G. White Research Center: UNASP-EC); “Brazilian Training School,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D. C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1939), 245; “Brazil Junior College,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D. C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1941), 256.

  10. “São Paulo Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D. C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1942), 144, 145; “São Paulo Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D. C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1945), 153.

  11. “Brazil College,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D. C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1946), 229; “Brazil College,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D. C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1947), 228.

  12. “Brazil College,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D. C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1948), 229; and “Brazil College,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D. C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1951), 239.

  13. “Arno Schwantes,” Revista Adventista 92, no. 10 (October 1996): 38; Lygia Schwantes, to Suelen A. Almeida, Engenheiro Coelho, São Paulo, November 13, 2019.

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UNASP, The Brazilian White Center –. "Schwantes, Arno (1913–1996)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. July 22, 2021. Accessed February 18, 2025. https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=7GOM.

UNASP, The Brazilian White Center –. "Schwantes, Arno (1913–1996)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. July 22, 2021. Date of access February 18, 2025, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=7GOM.

UNASP, The Brazilian White Center – (2021, July 22). Schwantes, Arno (1913–1996). Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. Retrieved February 18, 2025, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=7GOM.