(Mennonite Mission Network) — Miriam Beachy, a 23-year mission worker to India, died Wednesday, Oct. 24, after suffering a stroke. She was 91.
Born July 15, 1921, in Goshen, Ind., to Henry and Liza "Lizzie" (Markley) Weaver, she attended Goshen College and married John E. Beachy in 1942, who died April 2011.
Together they served in Bihar, India, from 1948 to 1971 with Mennonite Board of Missions, a predecessor agency of Mennonite Mission Network. Miriam helped establish an annual women’s retreat, was involved in the pastors’ training school, and in 1966 helped coordinate food aid during a famine in Bihar.
After serving in India, Miriam and John moved to Scottdale, Pa., where she worked for Scottdale Mennonite Church and then Provident Bookstore.
After retiring to Sarasota, Fla., she and John co-pastored at Emmanuel Mennonite Church in Gainesville, Fla., and finally returned to Goshen in 1995.
Laura Schumm of Goshen and her late husband, Dale, were mission workers who overlapped with the Beachys for five years in Bihar. Laura said she was impressed with Miriam’s relationship with the women in the area.
“She made frequent visits with locals, having tea with them and listening to their stories,” Laura said. “Because of this rapport with neighbors, they also felt free to come to Miriam’s house where a lot of discussions happened.”
Schumm said that Miriam was like a surrogate mother for the students from other parts of India who came to the area to study, and that her command of Hindi allowed her to study the Bible with groups of women who were eager to learn more about Christianity.
Miriam’s mission involvement did not end after returning from India. She served on the Mennonite Board of Missions board of directors, and on mission commissions of Scottdale Mennonite Church, Bahia Vista (Fla.) Mennonite Church, and College Mennonite Church in Goshen. She edited a conference paper and was a writer for church periodicals, reporting on mission efforts around the world. She was a retreat speaker and Bible study leader with particular interests in spiritual formation and the use of women’s gifts in the church.
John F. Lapp, Mennonite Mission Network director for Asia, said Miriam’s connection to India lasted her entire life.
“I think Miriam and John, of all the retired India missionaries, may have been the couple who retained the closest emotional relationship with the churches and people whom they so loved in Jharkhand,” he said. “They kept in close touch, especially with the leading church leaders whom they had mentored as youngsters.”
Miriam is survived by two daughters, Cheryl (David) Paulovich, Phoenix, Ariz., and Lynette (Leon) Bauman, Goshen, Ind.; two sons, John Allen, DeKalb, Ill., and Kenton (Rhonda), London, Ohio; 11 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, John; four sisters, Mabel Martin, Mary Risser, Anne Winters, Nora Hoffman; and two brothers, Carl and Aaron Weaver.
Memorials may be directed to the International Student Ministry of the College Mennonite Church or to College Mennonite Church Outreach.
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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.
