Moyer, Marie (1923-2003)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2003 Mar 3 p. 11

Birth date: 1923

text of obituary:

Former India missionary, 80, dies in Pennsylvania

By Mennonite Mission Network

BLOOMING GLEN, Pa. — Marie Moyer, a mission worker in India during the 1950s and 1960s, died Feb. 6. She was 80.

Moyer, who lived in Dhamtari for most of her career in India, served with Mennonite Board of Missions. She graduated from Goshen (Ind.) College and became involved in christian education, resource translation and bookstore service during her quarter-century in India.

She had significant influence on the direction taken by the Mennonite Church in India, said John F. Lapp, director for West Asia and the Middle East for Mennonite Mission Network.

She was "right in the middle of mission and church development throughout the 1950s and '60s," Lapp said.

Moyer arrived in India in 1949 to use her gifts in preparing material for strengthening the lives of young people. She enjoyed working with students and arranging summer retreats for them.

By 1972, as expatriate staff moved into wider ministries, her gift in writing was recognized and, until she retired, she lived in Jhansi and worked in the preparation of Sunday school materials for the India churches. She retired in 1973, but her love for India never ceased.

"Marie never asked whether her name would be remembered," said a friend, Florence Nafziger. "It is only now when we will no longer hear her voice that we begin to realize her effect on those of us who worked with her."

Moyer was an elder at Blooming Glen Mennonite Church.

She is survived by two sisters, Gladys Detweiler and Helen Good.