Stackley, Muriel Thiessen (1937-2011)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2011 Feb 7 p. 7

Birth date: 1937 Mar 2

text of obituary:

Writer, editor, peacemaker dies at 73

By Susan Miller Balzer
For Mennonite Weekly Review

LINCOLN, Neb. — Muriel Thiessen Stackley, who touched many lives as a writer, editor, pastor, theologian, peacemaker and poet, died of cancer Jan. 29. She was 73.

In her editorials and in a recent book of poetry, War Is a God That Demands Human Sacrifice, she demonstrated that she was also called to be a prophet.

She edited The Mennonite from 1986 to 1992 when it was the publication of the General Conference Mennonite Church. She worked in the denominational office in Newton, Kan., for 18 years, writing and editing news, curriculum and materials for youth.

She was born March 2, 1937, in Champa, India, to missionaries John and Elizabeth (Wiens) Thiessen. She graduated from Bluffton (Ohio) University, the University of Kansas and Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Ind.

She married Theodore Stackley on June 21, 1964. He died April 5, 1985. They served with Church World Service in Botswana in the early 1970s.

She was coordinator of the Newton Area Peace Center from 1992 to 1995. After completing seminary, she served as pastor of Bergthal Mennonite Church, Pawnee Rock, Kan., from 1996 to 2002. She co-authored Garden in the Wilderness, a book about the Mennonite colonies in Paraguay, with Edgar Stoesz.

In 2003 she served with Mennonite Voluntary Service as operations coordinator with the Arts in Prison program in Kansas City. She became a member and deacon of Rainbow Mennonite Church in Kansas City.

Though her health was fragile, she completed Christian Peacemaker Teams training in January 2009 and became a CPT reservist. She served on the CPT steering committee and participated in delegations to Chiapas, Mexico, and to the Middle East.

She witnessed for peace through her writing, speaking and lifestyle. After her children were grown, she downsized her living space, giving away possessions and eventually living in an efficiency apartment. She resisted paying for war by living with a below-taxable income.

In a farewell message, she asked her friends and family to continue her work for peace and to "sing out daily with the joy of one who appreciates the smallest details and feels powerful enough to do battle with giants."

Stackley is survived by three children, Therron Stackley and Christy Aggens of Lincoln, Javan and Melissa Stackley DeCino of Longmont, Colo., and Tammur Stackley and Jason Minford of Philadelphia; two grandchildren; a sister, Dorothy Anderson of Lawson, Mo.; and a brother, Arthur D. Thiessen of Port Orchard, Wash.

A memorial service is planned at Rainbow Mennonite Church at a date and time to be announced.