Wenger, Roy (1908-2004)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2004 Dec 13 p. 12

Birth date: 1908 May 20

text of obituary:

ROY WENGER

Roy Wenger, 96, of Missoula, Mont., died Nov. 30, 2004. He was born May 20, 1908, to Joseph and Emma Gerig Wenger near Smithville, Ohio.

The family attended Oak Grove Mennonite Church, where he was baptized. He graduated from Bluffton (Ohio) College. After several years of schoolteaching, he went to Ohio State University, where he earned a doctorate in education.

In 1942 he was drafted and became a part of the Civilian Public Service program. He was sent to CPS Camp #5 near Colorado Springs, Colo., as the camp's educational director, but within six months was transferred to Montana to open the first camp for "smoke jumpers," who fought forest fires.

After the war, he and his wife, Florence, whom he married in 1941, moved back to Ohio and established teaching careers. In 1948 he went to Kent State University as its first director of audiovisual education. In 1954, he was awarded a Fulbright Lecturer's Grant to teach at the International Christian University in Japan.

After three years in Japan, he returned to Kent State, where he began several new and innovative programs, including an international exchange program. In 1971 he helped start the university's Center for Peaceful Change. Now called the Center for Applied Conflict Management, it was one of the first programs in the U.S. to offer an undergraduate degree in conflict resolution.

He remained on the Kent State faculty until 1978.

After retiring, he moved to Missoula. He helped establish the Golden College at the University of Montana, an educational program for seniors and retirees.

Survivors include his wife, Lillian, whom he married in 1992 after the death of his first wife in 1989; a daughter, Susan Duffy and her husband, Patrick, of Missoula; and two granddaughters.

He was preceded in death by his first wife, Florence; and his sister, Icie Wenger Smucker.

A memorial service was held at University Congregational Church in Missoula. A later service is planned for Oak Grove Mennonite Church at Smithville, Ohio.