wfn.org | Vesta Nafziger Miller dies at 86

[Beth Hawn]

Microsoft Mail v3.0 (MAPI 1.0 Transport) IPM.Microsoft Mail.Note
To:  'Worldwide Faith News'
Date: 1998-08-05 16:15
Priority: 3
Message ID: 033D8C6D3D2CD211AAB0006008075ABF
Conversation ID: Vesta Nafziger Miller dies at 86 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

August 5, 1998
Mennonite Board of Missions
Beth Hawn
(219)-294-7523
<news@mbm.org>

Vesta Nafziger Miller dies at 86 in Goshen, Ind.

GOSHEN, Ind. (MBM) - Former Mennonite missionary to India and teacher   
Vesta
Nafziger Miller, 86, died at 7:20 p.m. Tuesday, July 28, at Carriage   
Manor
after a brief illness.

Miller was born Dec. 24, 1911, in Archbold, Ohio.  She graduated from   
Goshen
College in 1938 with a degree in education and married S. Paul Miller,   
also a
Goshen College graduate, on August 27, 1941, in Bombay, India.

After graduating from Goshen College, Vesta Nafziger moved to India in   
1938.
She studied the Indian language in the Himalayas and in 1939 took up   
duties as
manager of the Primary School in Balodgahan.  "The school would not be   
'up to
the mark' in America," she wrote in 1940, "but I feel it ranks high among   
other
India village schools.  I am sure that each little life was, in the end,   
made a
bit happier than if it had not had the opportunity of attending school."

While World War II raged in Europe and the Pacific, S. Paul Miller   
traveled to
India in August 1941.  Vesta Nafziger married him that month, and the two   

continued to study the Indian language.  They eventually were appointed   
to
work at the Sankra Evangelical Station.  According to John Friesen, a   
Goshen
College classmate of the Millers and MBM colleague in India from 1939-81,   
S.
Paul was "medically minded" and was placed in charge of the roadside   
leprosy
clinic there.  S. Paul and Vesta worked together for several years as   
managers
of the evangelism programs at Sankra, and Vesta helped teach Bible   
studies in
the villages.

While in Sankra, the Millers organized relief work in the area.  Many   
local
people were unemployed and/or starving due to a famine.   S. Paul wrote   
in 1944
that he and Vesta "tried to relieve in a measure some of the hardships   
and
sufferings of the people here.  It was decided that instead of giving out   
money
or food, a work project should be opened to provide jobs for the needy."

When S. Paul became mission treasurer and more involved with
administrative aspects of the mission work in India, Vesta's role changed   
to
one of entertaining guests.  "I think she played her greatest role in   
working
with the trained people of the church, professional people," Friesen   
said.
"She was very respected.  She entertained them well and understood them   
and
related to them very well."  Vesta also wrote Sunday-school lessons,   
which
Friesen illustrated.

When S. Paul transferred to Union Bible Seminary in Pune, in the state of   

Maharashtra, Vesta taught English to some of the seminary students.
"She was a homemaker-teacher and very supportive of her husband and his
work," Friesen said.  "That's where she made her mark - she related very   
well to
the staff where she worked."

The Millers retired from work in India in 1983, at which point they moved   
to
Goshen.  Vesta is remembered best as a teacher and communicator.  "She   
was
very observing and a natural-born teacher, and she exhibited that in her
relationships with people," Friesen said.  "She made good assessments of
people - she was able to size people up well."

Cheryl Paulovich, who grew up as the daughter of missionaries to India,   
"knew
 [Vesta] as being small (in stature) but powerful," she said.  "She   
seemed to
know what she was about in life."

Surviving Miller are her husband, S. Paul; two daughters, Elaine Haines,
Souderton, Pa., and Eleanor Miller, Strasbourg, France; and one son,   
James
A. Miller of Shipshewana, Ind.; eight grandchildren; and one great-
grandchild.  Also surviving are two sisters, Helen Kauffman of Tiskilwa,
Ill., and Lois Nofziger of Pettisville, Ohio; and four brothers, Ervin
Nafziger, Glen Nafziger and Lester Nafziger, all of Archbold, Ohio, and   
Ivan
Nafziger, Pettisville, Ohio.

Miller's funeral service was held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, August 1, at
College Mennonite Church in Goshen, where she was a member.  Pastor Nancy   

Kauffmann officiated.  A memorial service was also held at Clinton   
Mennonite
Church in Wauseon, Ohio, at 11 a.m. Monday.  Pastors Dee Swartz and Wayne   

Tipkin officiated.  The family held a private graveside service at 9:30   
a.m.
Monday at Pettisville Cemetery, Fulton County, Ohio.

Memorials may be directed to Mennonite Board of Missions or the College
Mennonite Church Jubilee Fund.
* * *

Rachel Lewis