Swartzendruber, Frances M. T. (1930-2004)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2004 Nov 15 p. 12

Birth date: 1930 Dec 21

text of obituary:

FRANCES M. T. SWARTZENDRUBER

Frances M. T. Swartzendruber, 73, of Scottsdale, Ariz., died Oct. 29, 2004, after a seven-year battle with cancer. She was born Dec. 21, 1930, in France.

In 1949, she joined the Mennonite Central Committee team in a children's home in the suburbs of Nancy, France, as a secretary-monitrice. There, in 1950, she met her future husband, H. Dwight Swartzendruber, an MCC volunteer. They were married on May 19, 1952, and she accompanied him to his home in Iowa.

In 1957, the family moved to Karachi, Pakistan, where her husband began a career in international relief and development work with Church World Service. For nine years, while he was working in the New York headquarters, she worked with United Methodist Board of Global Ministries' Africa and Medical Offices.

In 1979 they moved to Reston, Va., and began a second career, often working as a team providing consultant services to a number of agencies, mostly in Africa, which engaged in emergency relief.

In 1993 they moved to Scottsdale, Ariz., where she retired while her husband continued to work half-time in a number of consulting assignments in Africa. Her main interest in her retirement years was her family, staying in contact with her granddaughters, although from a geographic distance. She and her husband also engaged in extensive travel, both to explore new places and to return to some of their favorite spots.

Another of her interests was helping to launch Artisans Around the World, which will open a new Ten Thousand Villages store in Glendale.

Survivors include her husband of 52 years, H. Dwight; three sons, Fred of Reston, Va., Dan of Ashland, Mass., and David of Broadway, Va.; and five granddaughters.

Services were held at Trinity Mennonite Church in Glendale and at Park View Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg, Va.