Wiebe, John A. (1900-1963)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1964 Jan 2 p. 3

Birth date: 1900

text of obituary:

Taught at Tabor

M. B. Missionary In India Dies By Drowning

By Marion W. Kliewer

Hillsboro, Kan. — In their Christmas letter from India Rev. and Mrs. John A. Wiebe told how a small child had been saved from drowning in the dispensary in which Mrs. Wiebe serves.

On the Saturday after Christmas Rev. Wiebe himself became a victim of drowning.

Rev. Wiebe was a missionary of the Mennonite Brethren Church in India. He was a former resident of Hillsboro. He taught in Tabor College from 1949 to 1951 and again in 1959 to 1961.

The cable received by the Mennonite Church Missions office in Hillsboro stated that burial took place in India on Dec. 29. Rev. Wiebe was 63.

“A life saved!” was the way the Wieners introduced the account of the drowning rescue. They continued: “Adults and children were going to the sea for tea. Some saw a group of wailing people surrounding a small child whom they had just dragged out of a water hole. There was little that could be done on the sandy shore.

“A doctor ordered the baby to our dispensary. With suction pump and mouth-to-mouth breathing, the child was revived. Great was the rejoicing. It is up to us to unite in wisdom, concern and prayer to rescue those who would otherwise perish.”

Rev. and Mrs. Wiebe were serving on the staff of Ramapatnam Baptist Theological Seminary. They sailed to India for the first time in 1927. They served in evangelism, church-building and education among Telegu people on the Mennonite Brethren mission field in the state of Andhra Pradesh before going to Ramapatnam along india's southeast coast in 1961.

Rev. Wiebe is survived by Mrs. Wiebe in India; and the following children: Esther in India; John C. and family, Blacksburg, Calif.; Mrs.Herbert Friesen and family, Chicago; Mrs. Donovan Janzen and family, El Dorado, Kan.; David and wife Lorna, studying at the KU School of Medicine in Kansas City; Paul and family, Valley Falls, Kan. with Paul studying at the University of Kansas in Lawrence; and Marilyn, also at KU.