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Wenger, Paul A. (1889-1969)
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1969 Jan 30 p. 3
Birth date: 1889 Mar 22
text of obituary:
Bluffton, Ohio. — Rev. Paul M. Wenger, long-time missionary to India under the General Conference Mennonite Church, died here Jan. 22 at the age of 79.
Funeral services were conducted Saturday afternoon at the First Mennonite Church.
Rev. Wenger was born at Versailles, Mo. and spent much of his early life at Newton, Kan. He attended Bethel Academy, the University of Idaho, the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, and Bethel College (Kansas), from which he received the A. B. degree.
He went tot he India mission field in 1923. He was married there in 1926 to Mrs. Adah (Good) Burkhalter, whose husband Noah Burkhalter had died soon after their arrival on the field. The Wengers continued as missionaries to India until retirement in 1952.
Surviving in addition to Mrs. Wenger is a step-son N. Lawrence Burkhalter of Ames, Iowa.
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1969 Feb 6 p. 11
text of obituary:
In Memoriam
PAUL A. WENGER was born on a farm near Fortuna, Mo. on March 22, 1889, and passed on to be with his Lord on Jan. 22, 1969 while a patient in the Bluffton, Ohio Community hospital. He was 79.
When his parents moved to Newton, Kan. Paul continued his studies in the public schools of Newton and in Bethel Academy. Again his parents moved west to Aberdeen, Idaho, where they pioneered and carved a farm from the sage brush desert. From 1912 to 1916 Paul attended the University of Idaho, studying in the College of Agriculture. Leaving college, he served two years as seed analyst for the state of Idaho and part time as Assistant State Field Agronomist. The years 1920 to 1922 were spent in intensive study of the Bible and evangelism at Los Angeles Bible Institute. He also attended Bethel College (Kansas), from which he received the A. B. degree in 1933.
DUE TO A NUMBER of early influences he felt called to foreign mission service, and sailed for the India mission field in 1923. After language study, he was stationed at the newly opened Basna Station.
On March 3, 1926, he was married to Adah (Good) Burkhalter, who had come to India in 1919 with her husband Noah Burkhalter, formerly of Berne, Ind. After eight months in India, her husband succumbed to a tropical disease and left behind an unborn babe, N. Lawrence Burkhalter. By this marriage Paul Wenger became not only a fine foster father to Lawrence, but won for himself a unique place in the respect and affections of the close relatives.
AFTER THEIR MARRIAGE, Adah transferred to the Basna Station, then in a raw pioneering stage of development. Paul Wenger found ample field for his skills and interests among the poverty-stricken converts, whose ancestral occupation had been weaving as a cottage industry. He introduced the flying shuttle by which the weaver could greatly increase his daily output of homespun cloth. From government sources he brought in the principles by which cooperatives successfully operated, and thus fathered the Christina Cooperative Bank and the Christian Cooperative Weaving Association in the area of which Jadgeeshpur is now the center.
TRANSFERRED for his second and third terms to Korba Station, 75 miles to the north, he continued his interest in meeting economic needs by producing high grade seed rice. However his deep and abiding interest in evangelism found an outlet in hundreds of villages of five native Zamindaries, as well as in the state of Sarjuga, which was closed to the Christian witness. Sarjuga was ruled by a raja who forbade any Christian testimony in all his domain. When independence came to India in 1947, this restriction was ruled out by the new constitution. Paul and Adah Wenger then made exploratory trips over difficult terrain, exploring suitable roads and trails by which the work of Christ might be carried into this closed land. Thus they helped pave the way for the establishment of mission work in Sarjuga under the General Conference Mennonite Church.
RETURNING to the homeland in 1952 the Wengers had the custodian care of a mission center in Chicago. They came to Bluffton in 1956, where after serving some time in the Maintenance Department of Bluffton College, Paul became the custodian of the First Mennonite Church. He was interested in good music, and carried into all his tasks the artistic touch. He was friend to the children, and he and Mrs. Wenger knew nothing of the generation gap as many young people found deep satisfaction in their company.
THE FUNERAL was held at 2 p.m. on Jan. 25 in the First Mennonite Church of Bluffton, conducted by Rev. Stanley Bohn. Dr. Elmer Neufeld, chairman of the Commission on Overseas Ministries, spoke on behalf of the Mission Board.
Surviving are his wife, Adah, his son, Dr. N. Lawrence Burkhalter, wife and five children of Ames, Iowa; a brother Frank, of Aberdeen, Idaho; a nephew, Malcolm Wenger of Newton, Kan., other nephews and nieces scattered in other states.
Memorial gifts may be made to the Commission on Overseas Ministries, 722 Main St., Newton, Kan. 67114.
The Mennonite obituary: 11 Feb 1969 p. 91
The Mennonite obituary: 18 Feb 1969 p. 106