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DeGarmo, Mary (d. 1947)
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1948 Jan p. 1
Birth date:
text of obituary:
China Missionary Killed, Others Missing On East Honan Field
CIVIL WAR RESULTS IN DEATH OF MARY DeGARMO; BARTEL FAMILY MISSING
Word has been received here that Miss Aganetha Regier and Missionary and Mrs. Loyal Bartel and two-year-old son David of the Tsaohsien field in East Honan, China, are missing following the occupation of that field by the Communists for the fifth time. This news was contained in a telegram received by Aaron Regier, nephew of Miss Regier of San Jose, Calif., and forwarded by G. T. Thiessen of Orange Cove, Calif., former China missionary.
Newspaper reports have also confirmed the death of Mary DeGarmo, for many years a worker on the Tsaohsien field, who was instantly killed on Dec. 22 when a bomb or hand grenade was thrown through a window of her home, exploding near her as it struck the floor. This reportedly happened during a skirmish between the Communists and Nationalists in that area. With Miss DeGarmo when she was killed were Missionaries Mary Schmidt and Mary Quiring, also of the Bartel Mission station at Liu Ho. The Loyal Bartel family had been stationed at Tsao Hsien, about 23 miles from Liu Ho.
Miss DeGarmo was a former resident of Berne, Ind., was a member of the First Missionary church there and was serving under the Missionary Church Association. She was formerly an instructor at the Light and Hope Orphanage near Birmingham, Ohio, conducted by the late Rev. and Mrs. J. A. Sprunger.
Commenting upon her work in China, Bro. Thiessen writes, “I would describe her as faithful in her tasks . . . She was fearless and heroic. For years she was alone at a station, really doing a man’s job in holding it, even when the Japanese robbers, and now the Communists, came to molest her and the station.
“She was firm as to her convictions, very strict with herself as well, and with that she also avoided all appearance of evil. Another characteristic was a love for souls. Not only did she win them, but was also eager that they should grow in grace and in the knowledge of God. She hath done what she could.”
