Stoltzfus, Ruth Brunk (1915-2008)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2008 Dec 15 p. 3

Birth date: 1915

text of obituary:

Radio ministry founder, women in leadership pioneer dies in Virginia

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.

Sam Weaver, a former Virginia Conference executive, had known Stoltzfus for more than 60 years from Newport News, where she had been born as the eighth of nine children of the late George Brunk and Katie Wenger Brunk.

Weaver was dean of men at then-Eastern Mennonite College from 1966 to 1968, while Stoltzfus was dean of women.

"I was honored when she would ask my opinion," Weaver said, noting that he was sin his early 30s at the time, and nearly 20 years younger than Stoltzfus.

He also remembers being a delegate along with Stoltzfus to the Mennonite Church General Assembly in Bowling Green, Ohio, in 1981. Stoltzfus gave a speech from the delegate floor advocating equality for women in church leadership and impressed many listeners, Weaver said.

"You are 40 years ahead of your time," Weaver told Stoltzfus during the ride back to Virginia.

Stoltzfus served as interim pastor in two Ohio congregations, a well as co-pastor at First Mennonite Church of Richmond, during the 1980s.

In 1989, while Stoltzfus was part of the pastoral team at Shalom Mennonite Congregation in Harrisonburg, conference leaders decided to ordain her.

"That helped us make the transition" to having other credentialed women in ministry, Weaver said.

Paul T. Yoder, then the bishop-overseer for Harrisonburg district, laid hands on Stoltzfus to ordain her. He remembers her as a pastor in whom he had great confidence.

"She was quite articulate, very biblically based and founded," Yoder said. "She had a shepherd's heart. She had proven herself as a capable speaker."

Sara Wenger Shenk, associate professor of Christian practices and associate dean of Eastern Mennonite Seminary in Harrisonburg, had recently moved to the Shenandoah Valley when Stoltzfus was ordained.

Shenk viewed the ordination as "a blessing on a ministry that had been proven over many years," she said.

"I see Ruth as someone who took what she knew best — her family life — and became a practical theologian, interpreting those family relationships, family dynamics, in light of how god is at work in the world, and how god wants us to live a life of discipleship in our families."

Stoltzfus is survived by a son, Eugene Stoltzfus of Keezletown; three daughters, Kathryn Stoltzfus Fairfield of Bridgewater, Ruth Stoltzfus Jost of Harrisonburg and Helen Greenberg Stoltzfus of Oakland, Calif.; 11 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her eldest son, Allen Stoltzfus; a grandson; and all of her siblings.

A Mennonite Mission Network report contributed to this article.