ELKHART, Ind. — Ann Keener Gingrich, missionary, counselor, teacher, and advocate for women’s empowerment, died at home Jan. 18. She was 81. Ann actively served the Mennonite Church for more than six decades, in addition to raising six children with Paul, her husband of 63 years.
In 1994, after Paul retired from his 14-year term as president of Mennonite Board of Missions, a predecessor agency of Mennonite Mission Network, Ann and Paul teamed up to serve as Peace Evangelists. Over their four years in this assignment, the couple traveled to areas of conflict throughout Africa and Europe. They then returned to share their experiences with 125 congregations in North America.
“Ann was the creative one,” Paul said. “Although she was reticent at first, she was the better speaker of the two of us. She had deep spiritual perception.”
Steve Wiebe-Johnson, Mission Network’s current director for Africa, gratefully remembers Ann’s contribution during the Gingrichs’ visit to Ghana, where the Wiebe-Johnson family was on a Mennonite Board of Missions assignment.
“Tensions were extremely high between factions in the Ghana Mennonite Church, and I felt pulled in multiple directions,” Wiebe-Johnson said. “Ann’s listening ear and gentle presence provided encouragement, strength and comfort during a time that would have otherwise consumed us. She helped us put the experience in perspective.”
Although many speak of Ann’s gift of caring and nurturing, she also tirelessly fought against the abuse of women and helped to create space for women in the leadership structures of the Mennonite Church.
In 2007, Ann was ordained at Belmont Mennonite Church in Elkhart, Ind., where she was a member and led worship, did occasional preaching, and facilitated groups for survivors of sexual abuse. She served the larger church on numerous commissions and was a resource person for retreats on marriage and family, women’s issues, and human sexuality. Most recently, Ann and Paul served as conference overseers for College Mennonite Church in Goshen, Ind.
Prior to this, from 1974-1991, Ann was involved with Assembly Mennonite Church in Goshen as a pastoral counselor, elder, worship leader, trustee and preacher. Paul said that Ann had a special gift in midwifing new churches.
“She walked alongside the Meserete Kristos Church in Ethiopia at its inception. She was also instrumental in the beginning days of Assembly Mennonite Church when it was experimenting with being an alternative community of faith,” Paul said.
Ann and Paul were married in 1951. Three years later, they went to Ethiopia with Eastern Mennonite Missions. In addition to her ministry of mothering their children, Ann served as a teacher and counselor in Ethiopia and Kenya until 1969. She also opened a missionary guesthouse in Nairobi, Kenya, in1964.
Born on April 15, 1931, to Clayton and Martha (Gish) Keener in Little Britain, Pa., Ann graduated from Lancaster (Pa.) Mennonite High School in 1948. She also earned degrees from Goshen (Ind.) College in 1971 and from Anabaptist [Associated] Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, in 1987.
Eastern Mennonite University and Seminary celebrated Ann and Paul’s lifetime of ministry with the 1993 Distinguished Service Award. In 2005, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary honored Ann with the Alumni Ministry and Service Award for her work with victims of abuse.
Ann’s funeral was held Jan. 25 at Belmont Mennonite Church.
Survivors include her husband; sons, Larry P. (Sheila Kline) Gingrich of Birdsboro, Pa., J. Robert (Joyce) Hooley-Gingrich of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Jon L. (Rita) Gingrich of Goshen, and Michael L. (Bonnie) Gingrich of Elkhart; daughter, Lynda (Brent) Troyer, of South Bend, Ind.; son-in-law, Tim (Candy) Cleary, of Williamsburg, Va.; daughter-in-law, Pam Dintaman, of Arizona; sisters, Barbara (Harold) Shenk of Lancaster, Pa., Betty (John) Drescher of Quakertown, Pa., and Marie (E. Daniel) Riehl of Lancaster; brother-in-law, Rohrer (Mabel) Eshleman, of Lancaster; sister-in-law, Florence (Robert) Keener, of Souderton, Pa.; and 10 grandchildren.
Ann was preceded in death by a daughter, Bonnie Gingrich Cleary; sister, Ellen Eshelman; and brother, M. Robert Keener.
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For immediate release.
Mennonite Mission Network, the mission agency of Mennonite Church USA, leads, mobilizes and equips the church to participate in holistic witness to Jesus Christ in a broken world. Media may contact Andrew Clouse at andrewc@mmnworld.net, 574-523-3024 or 866-866-2872, ext. 23024.
