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Isaac, Ferdinand Jacob (1888-1946)
Christlicher Bundesbote obituary: 1946 Oct 29 p. 3
Birth date: 1888 Aug 9
text of obituary:
Als die Nachricht von dem Heimgang von Bruder Ferdiand [sic] J. Isaac am vorigen Samstagmorgen zu mir kam, kam sie als ein schwerer Schlag. Denn es lagen nur Wochen dazwischen seit ich ihn, im Juli auf Komiteesitzungen in Champa, C. P. Indien, verlassen hatte, und ich erinnerte mich seiner mit all seiner überfürhrenden Leitung in solcher Komiteearbeit.
Die Sache hat einen Christlichen Edelmann von hohem Range verloren. Die Missionsarbeit in Indien hat einen schweren Verlust erlitten, auf einem Arbeitsgebiete das schwer zu ersetzen ist. Die Kirche in Indien hat einen höchst mitfühlenden und hilfreichen Bruder verloren. Keiner von uns kann den Verlust ermessen, den seine, das Heim liebende Frau, Schwester Anna P. Isaac, erleidet, — denn keiner von uns kann sich in ihre Stelle versetzen, wie sie selber ist.
Er war nicht ein großer Organisator — aber er hat ausgezeichnete Arbeit in dieser Hinsicht getan. Auf Konferenzen und in Komitees machte er höchst annehmbare Beiträge. Er besaß eine durchdringende, gütige Einsicht für wesentliche Dinge, und blieb bei denselben. Er war nicht leicht aus seiner Stellung zu rütteln, obgleich er gerne den Meinungen der Mehrheit nachgab. Er hat jahrelang im Exekutivkomitee der Mission gedient. Er hat als Schreiber-Kassenführer der Mission gedient. Wiederholt hat er als Vorsitzer der Missionskonferenz gedient, und er hatte dieses Amt inne, zur Zeit als er von uns ging. Als solcher, griff er die Dinge, die zu bewerkstelligen waren, in einer Weise an, die den Beifall fast aller fand, obgleich nicht alle die Dinge überein ansehen.
Als die erste Nachricht über die Drähte kam, fühlte ich durchbohrt. Ich fühlte, als hätte ich einen treuen Freund verloren. Ich bin gewiß, daß hunderte von anderen seiner eigenen Rasse, und tausende in Indien auch so fühlten, — daß sie auch einen sehr treuen Freund verloren haben. Er hatte eine anmutige Freundlichkeit die keinen Anstoß gab.
Ich erinnere mich einer Begebenheit, als ein Indischer Mitarbeiter, Direktor einer Missionselementarschule, von der Gemeinschaft ernster Uebertretungen und Sünden schuldig erachtet wurde, und die Entlassung war unvermeidlich. Bruder Isaac ging zu ihm hin, legte dem Schuldigen alle Tatsachen vor, der keine Schuld zugab. Er sagte ihm, die Dinge ständen so und so, und sagte schließlich: “Unter den Umständen, kannst du leicht sehen, daß es schwierig ist, zusammen zu arbeiten. Wenn ich gehe und du bleibst dann wird ein jeder erklären, daß der Name Christi besudelt worden ist, und die Träger Seiner Sache sich untreu erwiesen haben in ihrer Haushalterschaft in diesen heiligen Diensten. Wenn du gehst und ich bleibe, obgleich kein bestimmter Beweis vorgebracht werden kann, und du nichts zugibst, dann wird unser Erlöser, den wir beide vorgeben zu lieben, in aller Augen geehrt werden. Unter solchen Umständen, meinst du nicht, daß du resignieren solltest? Sicherlich können wir nicht beide im Dienst fortfahren.” Der Mann resignierte, ging mit den besten Gefühlen für Bruder Isaac, fand sonstwo Arbeit, ist aber heute arbeitslos, weil Sünde sein Leben beherrschte.
Bruder Isaacs hervorragende Beiträge als Missionar, schlossen evangelistische Arbeit und Bauarbeit ein. Er hat das Bungalow des Arztes bei Jagdeeshpur gebaut; die Medizinische Station bei Champa mit zwei Bungalows, die Hospitalanlage, das Indische Krankenpflegerinnenheim; in späteren Jahren, eine Anzahl von Gebäuden in Bethesda Aussätzigenheim, einschließend ein Memorialheim für angesteckte Mädchen und zusammengehörige Gebäude für reine Kinder. Zur Zeit seines Todes hatte er die Aufsicht über die Mauhadi Missionsstation, wo es augenblicklich das größte Bedürfnis war, hunderte von neugetauften Kindlein in Christo zu erziehen, mit all den anstrengenden Anforderungen, die dieses mit sich bringt. Er tat auch evangelistische Arbeit auf den Janjgir und Champa Missionsstationen. Sein Rat und seine Dienste waren sehr gesucht als ratgebender Baumeister bei Bauunternehmungen in anderen Missionen, einschließend, ein großes Sanatorium für Tuberkulose unter Missionsaufsicht bei Pendra Road und das Aussätzigenheim bei Allahabad, wo er ein Jahr, zusammen mit Mrs. Isaac diente.
Die Kirche in Indien hat wenige mehr standhafte Freunde gehabt. Er stand ihr bei, indem er seiner eigenen Weise folgte, die Dinge anzusehen, unbeirrt durch das, was andere taten oder dachten.
Er war kein großer Briefschreiber, was er aber schrieb, das war inhaltsvoll und zur Sache gehörig. Unsere Missionskonferenz wird ihn sehr, sehr vermissen. Konferenzen sind Zeiten großer Gemeinschaft, mit Gott dem Vater, dem Sohn, und dem Heiligen Geiste, und mit einander. Musik spielt eine große Rolle. Bruder Ferdinand war Leiter bei all unserer speziellen Musik, im Ausarbeiten von Chornummern, in Auswahlen von Männerquartetts. Er war gewöhnlich sehr still, kümmerte sich um seine eigenen Angelegenheiten, doch ergötzte er sich an einem Scherz, einem Kunststück oder einer guten Geschichte. Ich wiederhole, er hatte eine anmutige Freundlichkeit, die keinen Anstoß gab.
Die Missionsbehörde und das Nothilfskomitee hat der Arbeit eine große Gunst erwiesen, indem sie ihn und Mrs. Isaac nach Indien sandten in der Höhe der Kriegsjahre, als Arbeiter so sehr notwendig waren. Er diente als der erste Direktor der Mennonitischen Hilfsarbeit in Indien.
Während dieses Termins hatte er wiederholt Heranfälle, die bald vorübergingen. Am Mittwoch, den 28ten August, fuhr Bruder Orlando Waltner auf dem Jeep inmitten der Monsun Regenzeit durch 25 Meilen von Kot, um Bruder und Schwester Isaac nach Champa zu bringen. Bruder Isaacs Hilfe war notwendig mit den Büchern des Missionkassenführers, Bruder P. W. Penner, der zu jener Zeit recht krank war. Nachdem sie angekommen waren und angefangen hatten zu arbeiten, kam wieder der Herzanfall. Bruder Penner war sehr krank, in das Krankernpflegerinnenheim für Missionare versetzt, mit Mrs. Penner an seinem Bette. Bruder Isaac war in Dr. Baumans Heim, mit Mrs. Isaac an ihres Mannes Bette. Schwester Eva Pauls war die Krankenpflegerin, welche die Aufsicht über beide hatte. Beide, Dr. Harvey und Ella Bauman, waren in Aufwartung. Beide Brüder, Penner und Isaac, besserten, aber Bruder Isaac scheinbar nur zeitweilig. Der vorige Samstag, der 12te Oktober, war bestimmt für die Hochzeit von Schwester Alida Schrag mit Rev. Abe Cummings. Die Gäste sollten am Samstag Vormittag um 9:30 mit dem Zuge ankommen. Es war geplant, daß die Zeremonie in der großen Kirche des Bethesda Aussätzigenheims stattfinden sollte, damit alle derselben bewohnen konnten. Nach der Trauung sollte ein Hochzeitsabendessen serviert werden. Miß Schrag sah Rev. Isaac als eine Art von geistlichen Vater an, und hatte ihn gebeten die Trauung zu vollziehen. Sie waren zusammen hinausgekommen nach Indien, auf dem Luftschiffe nach Süd Amerika, dann über Süd Afrika auf dem Schiffe nach Indien. Soweit ich es mir ausrechnen kann, ist der Heimgang Bruder Isaacs fast mit der Ankunft der Hochzeitsgäste zusammen getroffen, und sehr wahrscheinlich ist es der Zeit, die für die Hochzeit bestimmt war, nur einige Stunden vorangegangen. Wir können uns alle die große Spannung, den Schmerz und die Dunkelheit vorstellen, die über jene Missionsfamilie und jene christliche Brüderschaft gekommen sein muß, tausende von Brüdern und Schwesten in Christo, mit ihren jungen Leuten und Kindern, als einer aus ihrer Zahl so plötzlich fortgerufen wurde bei solcher Gelegenheit.
Unser Verlust is Bruder Isaacs Gewinn, er ist eingegangen zu der Gegenwart des Königs, wo er das große Hochzeitsmahl des Lammes erwartet.
Christlicher Bundesbote obituary: 1946 Nov 12 p. 14
text of obituary:
Ferdinand Jacob Isaac geboren in Lehigh, Kansas, am 9. August, 1888. Aus diesem Leben geschieden am 12. Oktober, 1946 in Champa, India, in einem Alter von 58 Jahren. Seine Schulbildung erhielt er in der Moundridge Elementar und Hochschule. In 1912 graduierte er von Bethel College, als Mitglied der ersten Klasse die einen College Kursus fertig machten. Durch die Taufe von Aelt. Wm. Galle, in 1903, wurde er Mitglied der West Zion Kirche in Moundridge. Im Alter von 16 Jahren verbrachte er ein Jahr in Oklahoma bei seinem Onkel Rev. P. R. Voth auf der Farm. Nach seiner Graduation vom College, diente er 1 Jahr als lehrer in einer Indianerschule in Colorado. Dann ein Jahr in der Akademie in Rosthern, Sask. Späterhin war er noch eine Zeitlang tätig in Innerer Missionsarbeit in California. Am 14. Oktober, 1914 trat er in die Ehe mit Anna E. Penner von Mountain Lake, Minn. 4 Kinder wurden ihnen geboren. Elenor, das erste Kind starb bei der Geburt. Esther, beinahe 2 Jahre alt, starb kurz vorher, da ihre Eltern zum ersten Mal nach Indien gingen. Paul, starb im Alter von 3 Jahren, in Italien auf ihrer ersten Urlaubsheimreise von Indien. Donald, der ältere Sohn, ist gegenwärtig Student in Bethel College. Im Herbst 1921 folgten sie den Ruf der Missionsbehörde für Aeußere Mission, nach Indien. In dieser Arbeit, die sie lieben, war es ihr Vorrecht, zusammen 25 Jahre zu dienen. Die Pflichten eines Missionars sind verschiedener Art, und manchmal zahlreich. Ferdinand war tätig in der Evangelistenarbeit, aber auch als Zimmermann, wenn es galt, bei der Errichtung der verschiedenen Missionsgebäude die Uebersicht zu führen. Nach ihrer Rückkehr von Amerika 1944, diente er eine Zeitlang als Relief Arbeiter in der Calcutta Gegend. In den letzten Jahren hatten sie die Aufsicht über die Station Mauhadih. Spät im August 1946 wurden sie nach Champa gerufen, um bei der Arbeit zuhelfen, die durch die Krankheit von Rev. P. W. Penner angehäuft war. Hier war es wo er einen Herzanfall erlitt. Wurde aber wieder etwas besser, doch es gab einen Rückfall und sein Zustand wurde kritisch. Einige Luftpost-Nachrichten sind hier angekommen während seiner Krankheit. Die späteste Nachricht jetzt an Hand, von Anna zu ihrem Sohn Donald, trug das Datum September 30. In dieser Nachricht schrieb sie: Vater schwebt zwischen Leben und Tod. Heute Morgen sagte er: “Ich denke mein Ende ist nahe. Ich werde gerne gehen. Es wird Herrlichkeit sein.” Auch sagt er immer wieder und ich stimme ihm bei, “Wir folgen Dir den ganzen Weg wie immer Du führst.” Natürlich warten wir auf mehr Nachricht von Indien, über die letzten 12 Tage seines Lebens. Außer seiner Frau Anna und ihren Sohn Donald, hinterläßt Ferdienand [sic], seine hochbetagten Eltern Mr. und Mrs. Jacob Isaac in Moundridge; Seine Schwester, Mrs. J. F. Moyer, North Newton und seinen Bruder Dr. Arnold G. Isaac Newton. So auch eine Pflegeschwester, Mrs. P. A. Dyck, Moundridge. Durch sein Dahinscheiden verliert unser Missionsfeld in India, einene ihrer erfahrenen Arbeiter. Möge der Herr, das Leben das er gelebt und die Arbeit die er getan, segnen. Möge sein Abscheiden auch eine Mahnung und Ansporn für andere junge Leute sein, die niedergelegte Arbeit aufzunehmen. Soweit dieser Bericht, wie bei der Memorialfeier verlesen wurde. Nun ist aber schon nähere Nachricht angekommen. Das Leiden blieb schwer bis zum Ende. In der letzten Hälfte der Nacht, also schon an seinem Sterbetage, hatte er einige Male gesagt: “Heute sost [sic wirst] Du mit mir im Paradiese sein.” Welch herrliche Offenbarung; und das Ende kam zuletzt noch schnell.
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1946 Oct 17 p. 1
text of obituary:
India Missionary Unexpectedly Called Away In Death
REV. F. J. ISAAC OF JANJGIR STATION DIED OF HEART AILMENT OCTOBER 12
Close relatives, friends and mission board members were deeply grieved upon receipt of a cablegram last week-end, stating that Missionary Ferdinand J. Isaac of Janjgir, C. P., India, had suddenly passed away there on Saturday, Oct. 12. According to U. S. time, however, his death occurred on Friday morning. He had suffered of an heart ailment since last August and it is believed his death was caused by heart attack.
Missionary Isaac was born August 8, 1888, at Lehigh and was but a few months more than 58 years old at the time of his death. After having served as teacher and pastor for a number of years, he and his wife began their first missionary term in India in 1921.
His wife and several children survive. Other surviving relatives include his aged parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Isaac of Moundridge and Dr. Arnold Isaac, a brother, of Newton. Rev. Isaac was also a brother-in-law of Dr. and Mrs. P. A. Penner of Newton, his wife being a sister of Dr. Penner.
A memorial service for the departed missionary will be held at the West Zion Mennonite church in Moundridge at 3:00 o'clock next Sunday afternoon, Oct. 20. The service was arranged jointly by the church and the General Conference Foreign Mission Board.
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1946 Oct 24 p. 1
text of obituary:
MEMORIAL FUND FOR MISSIONARY F. J. ISAAC WILL BE USED IN INDIA
Moundridge, Kansas. — It has been announced by Rev. W. F. Unruh, pastor of the West Zion church, that friends of the late Missionary F. J. Isaac who wish to do so may contribute cash gifts to a fund to be established in his memory. Since it was requested that no flowers be sent for the recent memorial service at the West Zion church, this opportunity is given for friends to contribute cash gifts instead of flowers.
All gifts received will go into a memorial fund to be used for either the hospital or the leper home in India. Contributions may be sent to Alfred Meyer at Moundridge.
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1946 Oct 24 p. 5
text of obituary:
. . .
— Memorial services for Missionary F. J. Isaac, who passed away on the India mission field Oct 12, took place at the West Zion church of Mpoundridge on Sunday afternoon, oct. 20. Rev. Isaac's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Isaac, are members of the West Zion church. Memorial messages were brought by Rev. J. R. Duerksen and Rev. W. F. Unruh, both former co-workers of Rev. Isaac, and by Rev. Phil. A. Wedel, member of the foreign mission board. Memorial services were also held Sunday afternoon at the Bethel church of Mountain Lake, Minn. Mrs. Isaac's former home was Moauntain Lake, and her brother, A. A. Penner, and sister, Miss Helen Penner, reside there.
. . .
— To the review has come a direct report of the death of Rev. F. J. Isaac in India on Oct. 12, and also of the wedding of Miss Alida Schrag at the Champa station on the same day. Both reports, which are by Miss Helen E. Nickel, arrived too late for this week’s issue but will be published next week. The Review regrets the few inaccuracies which occurred in the reports of Missionary Isaac’s death published on Oct. 17, and expects to make corrections with the more complete report of his life and activities in a forthcoming issue.
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1946 Oct 31 p. 3
FERDINAND J. ISAAC
Ferdinand Jacob Isaac was born at Lehigh, Kansas, August 9, 1888, and passed from this life October 12, 1946, at Champa, India, at the age of 58 years. He received his elementary and high school education in the Moundridge schools, and in 1912 was graduated from Bethel College, a member of the first class to received the Bachelor of Arts degree.
Through baptism by Rev. Wm. Galle, he became a member of the West Zion Mennonite church of Moundridge, in the spring of 1903. At the age of 16 he spent a year pioneering in Oklahoma with his Uncle, Rev. P. R. Voth, and family. Upon his graduation from college he taught, first in an Indian school in Colorado, then in the Rosthern, Sask., Academy. Later he was active in home mission work in California.
On October 14, 1914, he was married to Anna F. Penner of Mountain Lake, Minnesota. To this union four children were born. Eleanor, their first child, died at birth. Esther lived to be nearly two years old, and died shortly before her parents went to India the first time. Paul, at the age of three, died in Italy when they were on their way home from India for their first furlough. Donald, the older son, is at present a student at Bethel College.
In the fall of 1921 Ferdinand and Anna accepted the call by our Foreign Mission Board to enter the India mission field. In this work which they loved, they were privileged to serve together 25 years. The duties of a missionary are varied and numerous. Ferdinand was active in evangelistic work, but also as a carpenter, supervising the erection of many mission buildings. Upon their return from America in 1944, he served temporarily as a famine-relief worker in the Calcutta area.
In recent years they have been in charge of the Mauhadih station. Late in August of this year they were called to Champa, to help with the work which had accumulated during the illness of Rev. P. W. Penner. It was here that he suffered a heart attack. For several days he seemed to be improving, but he had a relapse and his condition became critical.
Several air mail messages were received here during his illness. The latest information now at hand was written by Anna to their son Donald, and was dated Sept. 30, In this message she wrote, "Father is hovering between life and death. This morning he said, 'I think my end is near. I shall be very glad to go. It will be glory.' Also he keeps saying, and I join him in it, 'We follow Thee all the way, no matter where Thou leadest.'" Naturally we are waiting for more recent mail from India to hear about the last 12 days of his life.
Besides his wife and their son Donald, Ferdinand leaves his aged parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Isaac of Moundridge, his sister, Mrs. John F. Moyer of North Newton, and his brother, Dr. Arnold G. Isaac of Newton, also a foster-sister, Mrs. Peter A. Dyck of Moundridge.
Through his passing our mission field in India loses one of her experienced workers. May the Lord bless the life he has lived and the work he has done, and may his going be a challenge to other young people to take up the work he has laid down.
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1946 Oct 31 p. 3
text of obituary:
Fellow Workers and Friends pay Last Respects To Missionary Isaac
EDITOR'S NOTE: Missionary Helen E. Nickel, writing from Champa, C. P., India, send the following report of the death of Rev. Ferdinand J. Isaac on the morning of Oct. 12, and of the funeral services held that afternoon. On the same day occurred the marriage of Alida A. Schrag to Rev. Abraham Cummings; the account of the wedding in ahoter column was also written by Miss Nickel.
On the day set aside for the joyous occasion of the wedding of Miss Alida Schrag to Rev. Abraham Cummings at Champa, C. P., India, the shadow of sorrow fell early in the morning.
At 6:35 a.m., just at the time when he was being served his breakfast tray, Rev. Ferdinand J. Isaac, missionary to India since 1921, passed suddenly and victoriously from his bed of illness. He had been ill since August 17, having suffered a number of heart attacks which left him weakened and sleepless since then. On the morning of October 12, God granted him release and an entry into His glorious presence. He died, reclining in a steamer chair while Mrs. Isaac, the nurse and doctors were present with him on the verandah.
The majority of his fellow missionaries were present in Champa due to the scheduled annual conference. The fuereal, as is customary in India, was set for that afternoon. At 2;30 Dr. H. R. Bauman conducted brief services at the house and at 3:00 p. m. the funeral was held from the Bethesda Leper Home church.
This church was built by Rev. Isaac and stands as one of the many reminders of his unselfish and great services during his missionary career. The esteem and love in which he was held was abundantly manifested by the many Indian friends who came from far and near to attend the funeral and to offer their condolences to Mrs. Isaac.
The services were in charge of Rev. Joel Asna and Rev. P. W. Penner, though a number of others paid tribute to his memory in song, prayers and short talks. As the sun was setting his body was laid to rest in the small cemetery on the first mission compound near where the Isaacs had lived many years. Here Rev. P. P. Asna, pastor of the Champa church, read the burial rites while many paid their last respects and mourned his loss.
The missionaries mourn as members of one large family and offered sympathy to Mrs. Isaac in her sorrow. They remember that their loss is being shared by others, notably the son Donald, the aged parents, Dr. and Mrs. P. A. Penner, and many friends and relatives in America.
But we do not mourn as those without hope, but in the confidence that this bereavement will work in us all such comfort of the assurance of salvation and eternal peace and joy that in turn many others may come to know of its true and only source, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Mennonite obituary: 1946 Nov 5 p. 7
text of obituary:
When the news of the home-going of Brother Ferdinand J. Isaac came to me, it came as a grievous shock. For it was only a matter of weeks that I had left him in committee meetings in Champa C. P. India, during July, remembering him with all his presuasive guidance in such committee work.
The Cause has lost a Christian gentleman of high degree. Mission work in India has lost heavily in an area of work that is hard to duplicate. The Church in India has lost a most sympathetic and helpful brother. None of us can measure the loss that his home-loving wife, Sister Anna P. Isaac sustains. — for none of us can put ourselves in her place, as she herself is.
He was not a great organizer — but he did excellent organizational work. In conference and committees he made most acceptable contributions. He possessed piercing gentle insight into vital issues, and stayed by them. He was not easily shaken in his own position, although he readily yielded to majority opinions. He served for years on the Executive Committee of the Mission. He served as Mission Secretary-Treasurer. He served as Mission Conference Chairman, repeatedly, and held this office at the time of his passing from us. As such, he handled the items of agenda in a way that commanded the approval of nearly all, though all did not see eye to eye.
When the news first came over the wires, I felt stabbed. I felt as though I had lost a true friend. I am sure that hundreds of others of his own race, and thousands in India felt likewise — that they too have lost a very true friend. He had a gracious gentleness that gave no offence.
I remember one occasion when an Indian co-worker, headmaster of a mission primary school was judged guilty by the community of grave trespasses and sins, and dismissal was inevitable. Brother Isaac went to him, laid all the facts before the guilty one, who did not admit any guilt. He told him things were so and so, and finally said, "Under the circumstances you can readily see that it is difficult for us to work together. If I leave and you stay, every one will declare that the name of Christ has been besmirched, and upholders of His Cause have proven unfaithful of their stewardship in these holy services. If you leave, and I stay, though no definite proof can be produced, and you admit nothing, then our Saviour whom we both profess to love will be honoured in the sight of all. Under such circumstances, do you not think that you should resign? Certainly we both cannot continue in service." The man resigned, left with the best of feelings for Brother Isaac, found work elsewhere, but today is jobless, because sin possessed his life.
Brother Isaac's outstanding contributions to the work as a missionary included evangelistic work and building work. He built the doctor’s bungalow at Jagdeeshpur; the Champa Medical Station with two bungalows, the hospital plant, Indian Nurses Home; in later years a number of the buildings in the Bethesda Leper Home, including a memorial home for tainted girls, a compound for untainted children. At the time of his death he was in charge of the Mauhadi Mission Station, on which the greatest immediate need was nurturing hundreds of recently bapitized[sic] babes in Christ with all the taxing demands that this entails. He also did evangelistic work on Janjgir and Champa mission stations. His advice and services were greatly sought after as consulting engineer on building projects in other missions, including a large tubercular sanatorium under Mission auspices at Pendra Rood and Leper Home at Allahabad, where he served with Mrs. Isaac for a year.
The Church in India has had few more staunch friends. He stood by it, following his own way of looking at issues, unperturbed by what others did or thought.
He was no great letter writer, but what he wrote was pithy and to the point. Our mission Conference will miss him very very much. Conferences are a time of great fellowship, with God the Father, the Son, and in the Holy Spirit, and with each other. Music plays a big part. Brother Ferd was leader in all our special music, in working out chorus numbers, in male quartet selections. He was usually very quiet, minded his own business: yet he enjoyed a joke, a trick or a good story. I repeat, he had a gracious gentleness that gave no offence.
The Mission Board and Relief Committee did the work a great favor by sending him and Mrs. Isaac to India in the height of the war years when workers were so badly needed. He served as the first Director of Mennonite Relief in India.
During this term he had repeated heart attacks, which soon passed away. On Wednesday, August 28, Brother Orlando Waltner went by jeep in the midst of the Monsoon rainy season through twenty-five miles of mud to bring Brother and Sister Isaac to Champa. Brother Isaac's help was needed with the books of Mission Treasury Brother P. W Penner, who at the time was quite sick. After they arrived, and started working, the heart attack came on. Brother Penner was very sick, placed in the missionary nurses’ home, with Mrs. Penner at his bedside. Brother Isaac was in Dr. Bauman's home, with Mrs. Isaac at her husband's bedside. Sister Eva Pauls was nurse in charge of both. Both Dr. Hnrvey and Ella Bauman were in attendance. Both Brothers Penner and Isaac got better, but Brother Isaac, seemingly, only temporarily so. Last Saturday, October 12, was set for the marriage of Sister Alida Schrag to Rev. Abe Cummings. The guests were to arrive by train Saturday at 9:30 a. m. The ceremony was to occur in the large Bethesda Leper Home church, so all could attend. Following the ceremony a wedding supper was to be served. Miss Schrag considered Rev Isaac as sort of a spiritual father, and had asked him to perform the ceremony. They had come out to India together via Air to South America, then via South Africa by boat to India. As far as I can reckon, the going-home of Brother Isaac almost coincided with the arrival of the wedding guests, and quite preceded the time fixed for the wedding by only a few hours. We all can imagine the great tension and grief and gloom which must have come over that mission family, and that Christian brotherhood, thousands of brothers and sisters in Christ, with their young people and children, when one of their number was so suddenly called away, on such an occasion.
Our loss is Brother Isaac's gain, and he has passed into the presence of the King, awaiting the great Marriage Supper of the Lamb.