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Stoltzfus, Ruth Brunk (1915-2008)
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2008 Dec 15 p. 3
Birth date: 1915
text of obituary:
By Celeste Kennel-Shank
Mennonite Weekly Review
Ruth Brunk Stoltzfus, who broke new ground in media and ministry, died Dec. 2 at the age of 93 at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community in Harrisonburg, Va.
Stoltzfus was the first Mennonite woman known to have been the speaker on a regular radio program, creating the show Heart to Heart in 1950. She led conferences on marriage and family with her husband, Grant Stoltzfus, who died in 1974. At the age of 74, she became the first woman ordained by Virginia Mennonite Conference.
"I see her as a pioneer in new forms of church ministry and a trailblazer for women in church leadership," said George Brunk III. "In much of her life she wasn't able to exercise ministry in traditional forms."
Brunk, Stoltzfus' nephew, preached the sermons at her ordination in 1989 and her memorial service Dec. 6 at Park View Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg, where she was a member.
Brunk preached on 1 Thess. 4:13-18 and 1 Cor. 15:51-58. The hymns Stoltzfus chose for the memorial service included older ones and ones reflecting "her passion about social justice issues," he said, such as "Let There Be Light."
"I would characterize my aunt as exemplifying ego strength in the service of other," Brunk said. "She had a lot of self-confidence, and she needed to have a measure of ambition about her to press for change in the life of the church.
"She had a forceful personality, and yet at the same time she was a person of real altruistic interests and action."
Stoltzfus graduated from Eastern Mennonite College with a two-year degree in 1937. She and Grant Stoltzfus wed June 17, 1941.
She taught in public schools for five years, which sparked her passion for speaking to families, she once said.
Stoltzfus started Heart to Heart as an independent enterprise and guided it into partnership with Mennonite Broadcasts Inc., predecessor of Mennonite Media. She directed the broadcast for eight years and spoke to listeners as "your friend Ruth."
Women's radio programs at that time discussed "food for the body, but none for the soul; much about the right look, but nothing about the right Book; suggestions about accumulating things, but little about building relationships," Stoltzfus said.
Engaging with print media as well, Stoltzfus published messages on Christian marriage and family in newspapers through her business, Concord Associates, beginning in 1964.
Stoltzfus also wrote her autobiography, A Way Was Opened, with Eve B. MacMaster, published in 2003 by Herald Press, and Her heart and Home, published in 1959.
Through their Christian Family Service ministry, Grant and Ruth Brunk Stoltzfus traveled to Mennonite and Brethren churches to address topics related to strengthening families.
