wfn.org | Obituary Nellie M. King

[Beth Hawn]

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To:  Worldwide Faith News
Date: 1998-06-11 14:10
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Message ID: EB9CD9672801D211AAB0006008075ABF
Conversation ID: Obituary Nellie M. King

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June 10, 1998
Mennonite Board of Missions
Beth Hawn
219-294-7523
NEWS@MBM.org

GOSHEN, Ind. (MBM) - Nellie Marie King, former teacher and missionary to
India with Mennonite Board of Missions died at 11:15 p.m. Sunday, May 31,   
in
Greencroft Terrace in Goshen.  She was 97.

King was born March 21, 1901, in Garden City, Mo., to Cotna (Kauffman)   
and
John D. Zook. She graduated from Goshen College in 1927 with a degree in
education and married Samuel M. King, also a Goshen College graduate, on
June 12, 1929, in Garden City, Mo. He died Jan. 1, 1997.

The Kings spent three years teaching in the Philippines, after which they   

served from 1937 to 1951 as Mennonite Board of Missions missionaries in   
India
at the Dhamtari Christian Academy. After returning to the United States,
King taught second grade at Waterford Elementary School in Goshen,   
retiring
in 1966.

While in India the Kings participated in three distinct areas of   
ministry:
the local Indian church, the Dhamtari Academy and a relief program   
targeting
hunger and poverty. They helped to start congregations of various sizes,
ranging from 400 members to only 15 or 20. One of the main values the   
Kings
attempted to instill in the members of the young churches was that of the   

importance of tithing and giving to church work.

"We are indeed glad for this spirit of giving. It is always encouraging   
to see
Christian virtues manifested and especially in the young churches and   
among
the new members of His fold," wrote Samuel King in a 1944 MBM report.   
 While
Samuel King served as pastor of the churches, Nellie King visited church
members and worked closely with the women.

The couple arrived in August 1937 in Dhamtari, India, and quickly plunged   

into the work waiting for them there.  The Dhamtari Christian Academy
provided Christian education as well as more practical skills to nearly   
500
young Indian women and men through three separate departments: the high
school, the normal (or teaching) school and the Bible school. Both Samuel   

and Nellie King taught Bible classes as well as other subjects. Nellie   
King
saw the school and Christian education in general as an important factor   
in
the creation of a national Indian church.

"Just as we expect the preaching of the word to bring results, so we can   
expect
results to come from the teaching of the word," she wrote in a 1939 MBM   
report.

In 1943, the Mennonite Relief Committee of India initiated a relief   
program
in Bengal. The program worked to counteract the devastation brought about   
by
famine by distributing food, clothing and medicine as well as personal   
care
at a relief center. The program was staffed by Indian Christians and
Mennonite missionaries, such as the Kings, who took a month or more off   
from
their respective duties elsewhere in the country. The Kings saw this form   
of
ministry as a valuable tool of witness. "We believe that the efforts of   
the
M.R.C.I. were blessed of God and that those who received help in their   
dire
need during that famine must have been impressed by this witness for
Christ," they wrote.

The Kings are survived by two sons, John D. of Aiken, S.C., and Stanley   
B., of
Goshen, Ind.; four grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and two
sisters, Trusie M. Zook and Louise Yoder, both of Goshen, Ind.

A memorial service was scheduled for June 11 at College Mennonite Church   
in
Goshen, where King was a member. She was to be buried in Violett   
Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be given to Mennonite Board of Missions or to
Chamberlain Elementary School's caring community program.
 
     * * *
Rachel Lewis