Friesen, John A. (1915-2009)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2009 Apr 6 p. 3

Birth date: 1915 Nov 30

text of obituary:

40-year missionary loved India's needy 2nd generation mission worker dies at 93

By Mennonite Mission Network staff

GOSHEN, Ind. — Even as a mission administrator in charge of a leprosy hospital in India, John A. Friesen was a pastor at heart, remembered for his love for the beggars and lepers of his village and for the growth of the church.

John A. Friesen, in the center of a three-generation family legacy of service in India, died march 20 at Courtyard Healthcare. He was 93.

Friesen and his wife, Genevieve, served in India with Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities form 1938 to 1981, with short periods of deputation, family medical care and refreshment in the United States.

As an India-born worker whose native language was Hindi, his primary concern was Mennonite church-panting in India.

"We remember him with affection and honor," said Amy Jiwanlal of the Mennonite Church in India. "He became a part of the sick, poor, weak [and] old people around him and talked, ate and sat with them to fulfill the Lord's command, and this is how he told them that Jesus loved them."

Son Stan Friesen recalled his father spending nearly every evening and Sunday praying with and blessing the sickest of the leprosy patients, many of whom were in pain from reactions to the medicine given for their leprosy.

P. K. Singh, secretary of the Mennonite Church in India, said Indian Mennonites mourn Friesen's passing and remember his artistic and musical talent and his faith.

"He was keen in evangelism, preaching to patients as well as to others," Singh said.