Guengerich, Frieda (1913-2005)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2005 Apr 11 p. 15

Birth date: 1913 May 29

text of obituary:

Missionary to Congo dies at 91 in Arizona

From MMN and AIMM

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Frieda Guengerich, 91, a former missionary to Congo with Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission, died March 5.

Guengerich served in Congo from 1946 to 1960 and 1969 to 1974, working with the Mennonite Church of Congo.

She served with AIMM and the Commission on Overseas mission of the General Conference Mennonite Church, a predecessor agency of Mennonite Mission Network.

She was born May 29, 1913, in Deer Creek, Ill., and had been a resident at Glencroft Retirement Center in Glendale, Ariz., since 1975.

Calvary Mennonite Church in Washington, Ill., was her home church. She was challenged at an early age to consider missionary ministry in the Congo. She graduated from Goshen (Ind.) College with a bachelor's degree in education, studied at Mennonite Biblical Seminary and took French and Congo cultural courses in Belgium.

Guengerich's major positions in Congo related to education in Mennonite schools. She directed primary school, junior-high equivalent and the girls' home-economics school. She taught in these schools and at a Bible institute.

She also taught children's Bible classes, worked with women and participated in ministry in the villages. As a professor in the Bible institute, she accompanied her students in evangelistic work.

Guengerich served with joy and dedication. Colleagues said she drew on Christ's power to accomplish the tasks given to her and offered a powerful testimony to God's faithfulness.

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2005 Apr 11 p. 16

text of obituary:

FRIEDA GUENGERICH

Frieda Guengerich, 91, of Glendale, Ariz., died March 5, 2005, at Glencroft. She was born May 29, 1913, to Otto and Emma Wolberg Guengerich of Deer Creek, Ill.

She graduated valedictorian from Deer Creek High School in 1930. Earning a teaching certificate in 1935, she taught in the elementary grades. She attended Bluffton (Ohio) College for two years, then transferred to Goshen (Ind.) College and graduated in 1943.

She grew up in Calvary Mennonite Church in Washington, Ill., and made her profession of faith there.

A new chapter opened for her when she answered the Lord's call to go to Africa in 1946. This was an intimidating venture for a single woman in the days immediately after World War II. She began her assignment of teaching young girls at Charlesville Mission Station in the Belgian Congo. She worked under Congo Inland Mission, later known as Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission.

She was called home in 1960 to take care of her mother, who was in poor health. During this time she taught at the Deer Creek grade school. After her mother died in 1960, she then took care of her father, who died in 1967.

She returned to the mission field in 1968 to Zaire, teaching in the missions and church/school system. Because of health issues, she returned to the United States in 1975. After several months in Illinois, she moved to Phoenix. She was one of the earliest residents at Glencroft. She joined First Mennonite Church of Phoenix, where she taught the adult Sunday school class. She also served as a deacon.

In retirement she carried on a card ministry and corresponded with people across the country and in Africa. She filled her days with prayer, reading the Bible and books of historical interest and doing word games. She also labored on four volumes of her diaries, covering all but the last few years of her life.

Survivors include a brother, Lester Guengerich of Chandler.

She was preceded in death by a sister, Dorothy Schertz, in 1959.