Unruh, Annie Enns (1900-1972)

Mennonite Brethren Herald obituary: 1972 Oct 20 p. 23

Birth date: 1900 Mar 17

text of obituary:

ANNIE UNRUH

" I will gre'atly re'jo ice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God: for He has clothe,d me wilth ,the g'arme'nts o,f salvatio n, He has covered me wi,th the robe o,f Righ,teousness." Th'is hymn of praise from Isaiah 61 was constant,ly with Annie during the last months of her life, and the confidence of its assurance brought her through her surferings and the hour of death to her eterna l home, on August 31 in the Concordia Hospi,tal, W'innipeg. Annie Unruh was born to John and Ag anet ha Enns in 1900 near Winkler, Manitoba in the little village of HoHIl u,lgs fe ld. She was t he second younge,s't of eleven children. She attended public school and H'igh Sc'hool in Wink'ler, completed Normal School tra'ining in Manitou wnd then taught in the W inkler area for seven years. Ann ie accepted the Lord Jesus as her personal Saviour when she was 12. She was baptized in 1916, and was acc'epted into the Winkler Mennonite Brethren Church. Even be,fore she was bap,tized, however, she felt a strong de'sire 1'0 serve the Lord on the miss'ion field. In 1925, when Rev. A .H. Unruh, founded the W inkler Bible School, she was the first studeM to enro'lI, and completed the course in 1928. It was at the B'ihle Sch oo'l that she me't A.A. Unruh, whom she married in a double wedding with Annie's sister SArah and J oh n Pelters on ODtober 21, 1926. In t he Seime year th ey offered themse lve s to the M ission Board for service in In dia . It w as not, however, until 1936 thDt th ey w ere acc epted as candidates fo r servi ce. Duri ng this period fou r ch'il dren were born; th e fifth child, Donald, was born dur'ing th eir f,irst term in India. In December 1936 they left Canada to ,serve in Ineiia, where they wo rk ed for fou r ter ms unt il their reti rement in 1967. Du ring th is time, An nie managed nOit o nly to b e n lov ing and attent,ive mother to her (;ive chil d ren, but also to serve her Lord and t he Indian people di!igently and w it h great joy and dedica tio n. Sh e was a mO'ther t o many, and oared t irel ess ly 'b01h for thei r bod ie s and their sou ls, She cared fo r th e sick, the poor and the hom eless, but h er centra l co ncern was for th eir salvation and s pir,i tua,1 growth , Durin'g her last y ears she taught at the Sham shabad Bible S'ehool , but her gre'altes t efforts were spent in teaching the B'ib,le to Christian women in th e v i'Hages, One o f her Indian co-workers in the task, (Mrs. Para njoy,thy) wrote in a ,letter r' ec eiv eci a few days befo re her death: "May his strength he made perfeot in you r weakness. Amm agaru, it is our pray er that y ou muM be happy inspite of bo dily weakn es s. The labour you un dertook in this w orld for H,im w il no t end in va,i n, T here is reward ready for you with the Lord , Amma, w e w ill never forget y ou r love. You are th e ones who s,trengthened us physicaHy and spiri,tually . Yo u are th e ones who en couraged us in min'ist ry. The LOid wi!1 ri c,hly reward you, !'t is the w ill of the Lo rd that His loved ones shou'ld be wit'h Him." During the past few y ears, her health began to fa il , but it was no.t until February that we disco vered thalt she w as se rio us ly iii. She w as at all t imes resigned to the more p erfect w i'" of her Lo rd, Fail ing ra pidly, she w as grall'ted a brief reprieve du ring Ju ly and August, sp ent su rrounded by her family in joy an d thankfu'fn es s, On August 11 s'he un derwen t further treatment, whkh w eakened her greatiy, and from which she neve r recovered , She pa ss ed on peacefu,lly in her s'leep on A ug'Ust 31 , aitel' two w eeks o f su fferi ng . She left her fa mily, not cr'ippied b ec au se she le'ft, bu t stre ng,thened becaus e sh e had gone before, S'he leaves t o mou rn her b el o'ved husba nd, Abra'h am A. Unruh of Winnipeg , and her child ren: Peggy and W alter Reg ehr, Kath ryn Unruh, Helen and o.scar Epp , 2111 of W 'in nip8 [J ; Lou is8 and George Blo ck , Medicine Hat, A'lta., and Dona,ld and Ma ,garel Un ruh, Boul der, Colorado, and eleven grandch'ild ren as weH as a host of iriend s and re'latives.