HAMPTON, Va. (Mennonite Mission Network) – Mary Lou Duerksen, a teacher and mission worker known for her passion and kindness toward the people of India, died Mar. 4 in Kansas. She was 85.
A memorial service was held Mar. 7 at Rainbow Mennonite Church in Kansas City.
Duerksen was born to Herman C. and Mary Fast Franz in Liberal, Kansas, on May 22, 1926. She was a graduate of Bethel College.
In 1952, Duerksen married Joseph Duerksen, who would later become a medical doctor. In 1956, the General Conference Mennonite Church, a predecessor agency of Mennonite Mission Network, appointed the Duerksens to serve at the Sewa Bhawan Hospital in Jageeshpur, India, in what is now the state Chhattisgarh. They returned to Kansas a few years later, and then went back to India in 1963, serving at Christian Hospital, Champa, until 1969.
After their final return to Kansas, Duerksen co-managed the Mennonite Central Committee Gift and Thrift Store across the street from the University of Kansas Medical Center, while Dr. Duerksen was a physician there.
“I would like Mary Lou to be remembered as one who was deeply committed to Jesus Christ and the church, demonstrated by her gentle, loving, supporting and forgiving life,” said Dr. Duerksen. “She was highly respected and loved by her Indian colleagues and the Indian people.”
Duerksen is survived by her husband of 62 years; her twin sister, Betty Bodine; children, Philip Keith Duerksen and Rev. Norma Peters Duerksen, Mary Christine and Gil Jara, and Mark Joeseph Duerksen; sisters-in-law, Christine Waltner and Lois Deckert; and nieces and nephews.
Memorial gifts may be made through Rainbow Mennonite Church, designated for MCC, Mennonite Mission Network, or Freedom School.
