Funk, Irene (1943-1975)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1975 Mar 27 p. 5

Birth date: 1943 Jul 8

text of obituary:

Director of Nursing At India Hospital Dies at Age 21

Newton, Kan. (GCNS) — Word has been received here that Irene Funk, 21, General Conference missionary at Champa, M. P., India, died there March 19. She had been ill with septicemia, a blood disease.

Miss Funk, a registered nurse and a native of Drake, Sask., had been director of nursing at the Champa Christian Hospital since 1969.

She was born July 8, 1943, the daughter of Peter and Marie Funk of Drake. She was a member of the North Star Mennonite Church.

Burial took place on March 20 at Champa, and a memorial service was held at the North Star Church on March 21.

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1975 Dec 11 p. 2

Birth date: 1943 Jul 8

text of obituary:

At Champa, India

Controversy Over Missionary's Death

NEWTON, KAN. (GCNS).— Although medical reports, missionaries, and parents have shown confidence that Irene Funk died a natural death last March in India, controversy over the circumstances of her death is engulfing the Mennonite church in Champa, India, and the Mennonite mission there.

Because of unconfirmed allegations that the 31-year-old missionary nurse had been poisoned and the disagreements over this among Mennonites in Champa, Jubilee celebrations of the 75th anniversary of General Conference missions in India, planned for late December, were canceled. The church conference leaders agreed in October that celebration would be difficult under the circumstances.

MISS FUNK’S BODY was exhumed by police from the Champa church cemetery Oct. 17 following complaints by Dr. V. Tirkey, a physician dismissed from the Champa Christian Hospital’s employ in 1974, that Miss Funk had allegedly been poisoned by those who cared for her during her last days. Results of the chemical examination of the body have not yet been released.

Miss Funk, who had been nursing superintendent of the Mennonite hospital since 1969, died March 19 following a short illness diagnosed by physicians as acute leukemia.

Verney Unruh, Asia secretary for the Commission on Overseas Mission, General Conference Mennonite Church, said, "I have full confidence in those who took care of and treated Irene during her illness. I am sure that further investigation will absolve them."

HER PARENTS, Peter and Marie Funk of Drake, Sask., also expressed their "complete and full confidence that all those who attended Irene during her illness and demise acted in good faith. We are also fully assured that the diagnosis of acute leukemia made by Dr. M. K. Banerjee was based on thorough testing and was medically accurate.

"We are also confident that these allegations will be proven unfounded. Irene's sufferings came as an act of God. We hope no one else will need to suffer unjustly because of her death.”

Miss Funk had begun feeling ill while on a vacation March 6-9, but continued to work following that weekend.

She and fellow missionary Mary Schrag Pauls, a member of First Mennonite Church, Pretty Prairie, Kan., left by train March 10 for the annual meeting of the Emmanuel Hospital Association in Delhi. By the time they reached Nagpur, Miss Funk was feeling worse, and the two women returned to Champa by early morning March 12.

SHE WAS TREATED as an outpatient at the Champa hospital that morning by Dr. T. Mathai, medical superintendent of the hospital. She then went to the Pauls home, where she was cared for by Mary, a registered nurse, and other missionary women until her death a week later.

Although physicians at one point thought Miss Funk’s illness was septicemia (blood poisoning), Dr. Banerjee, a specialist from Bilaspur, 50 miles away — in consultation with Dr. Mathai and three other physicians — later diagnosed the illness as acute leukemia. The diagnosis was based on the rapid jump in white cell count (from 20,000 to 52,000 within a few days), on the presence of hemorrhaging beneath the skin, and on the supersensitivity of her skin and joints.

AFTER HER DEATH, an article appeared in the local newspaper citing rumors of "mysterious circumstances” surrounding her death. However, no investigation was undertaken until after John and Mary Pauls returned to India from a three-month furlough in North America in mid-September.

Unruh, who was in Champa on an administrative visit when the body was dug up, said the mission had tried to get an official delay of the exhumation in order to have time to contact the Canadian high commissioner, but the delay was refused.

Dr. Mathai, a native of South India, has been a physician on the Champa hospital staff since 1942. He was formerly the supervisor of Dr. Tirkey and had discharged the younger physician in August 1974 for allegedly unethical practices. Dr. Tirkey is now in private practice in Janjgir, a few miles from Champa.

Irene Funk was born July 8, 1943, in Rosthern and was a member of the North Star Mennonite Church. She had earned R.N. and B.S. in nursing degrees from the University of Saskatchewan.

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1976 Jun 17 p. 7

Birth date: 1943 Jul 8

Report No Evidence of Foul Play

Body of India Missionary Reburied

NEWTON, KAN,— (GCN S) — The body of Irene Funk, former missionary in India, has been reburied and the Indian Government has reported no evidence of foul play in her death.

Samuel Stephen, chairman of the Bharatiya (Indian) General Conference Mennonite Church, who arrived in North America in early June for a brief visit, told General Conference staff in Newton that Miss Funk’s remains had been reburied in Champa on May 15.

The body of Miss Funk, who died March 19, 1975 of what attending physicians diagnosed as acute leukemia, was exhumed by police last Oct. 17 after accusations that the 32-year-old missionary nurse had been poisoned by those who had cared for her during her last days.

THE ACCUSATIONS had been brought by V. Tirkey, a physician who had been fired from the Champa Christian Hospital in 1974, against T. Mathai, medical superintendent of the hospital and one of the physicians caring for Miss Funk; Mary Pauls, another missionary nurse; and others who treated Miss Funk during the last week of her life.

Mr. Stephen said government officials had reported verbally that Mrs. Funk's remains had been sent to the Agra Bone Research Institute, which agreed with the attending physicians' diagnosis of blood cancer. Officials have so far refused to give the church the report in writing. However, Mr. Stephen said the fact that the bones were returned is evidence that nothing suspicious was found in the autopsy.

After the exhumation last October, church officials sent letters in November and April asking the government for results of the autopsy. Finally, a delegation of eight church officers, missionaries, and medical personnel — including M. Kumar, S. B. Kumar, Dr. Arthur, John Pauls, and Harold Ratzlaff — visited the district police headquarters in Raipur in early May. The body was returned several days later.

MISS FUNK’S BODY was reburied in the Champa church cemetery following a simple praise service in the church, according to Mary Pauls.

"Just as it was about time for the church service to start, a real wind and rain storm started," she wrote. “I do not think I have ever seen quite such a storm here in Champa. However, the service was held with no problem, and by the time the small group proceeded to the cemetery, the weather cleared up and the whole thing could be completed. Praise God!

"I told John, when the storm started just before churchtime, that it is very typical of the past year and all the events connected with it. I am grateful for that windstorm because I feel it was sent of God for a special purpose."

BECAUSE of the controversy in the Indian church concerning the accusations of poisoning, Jubilee celebrations of the 75th anniversary of General Conference mission in India, planned for December, were canceled. The church conference leaders had agreed in October that celebration would be difficult under the circumstances. Since that time some reconciliation has taken place between opposing factions, and some Indian pastors have suggested that the Jubilee celebrations might be scheduled sometime during 1976.

Both the General Conference’s Commission on Overseas Mission office in Newton and Miss Funk's parents, Peter and Marie Funk of Drake, Sask., had expressed confidence that all those who attended Irene during her brief illness had acted in good faith and that the allegations of wrongdoing would be proven unfounded.

Dr. Tirkey, who had brought the accusations, has meanwhile been turned down by the courts in his suit to be reinstated as a physician at the Champa hospital. He is now in private practice.

Irene Funk, born July 8, 1943, at Rosthern, Sask. was nursing superintendent of the Champa hospital from 1969 until her death. She was a member of the North Star Mennonite Church, Drake, Sask.

The Mennonite obituary: 1975 Apr 1 p. 211