Martha JoAnn & Leon Everett Strunk
Martha
JoAnn was born in Tipton County, IN and studied in the schools in
Tipton. She graduated from Taylor University in Upland, IN and
studied at Scarritt College for a year. She went to Brazil as a
single woman missionary. She was in Language School in Campinas
and then taught at Bennett College in Rio de Janeiro. She hadn't
yet finished her term when she met a certain young man.....
Leon was born in Vancouver, WA and studied in schools in Mill Plain, WA and graduated from Seattle Pacific College. He went to Brazil as a short-term missionary (LA-3), where he worked in the Evangelical Rural Institute for three and one half years. Martha and Leon were married in Brazil and returned to the US so Leon could attend Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. Meanwhile Martha worked in Emory University Library and later for the DeKalb County Welfare Dept. Leon served a church in the Holston Conference while they were at Scarritt.
They returned to Brazil for more language study. Then they were sent to Salvador, Bahia to start two new churches and a primary school in a slum area. Martha was lay leader in the church meeting in their home. Then Leon was assigned to Belo Horizonte as pastor of a circuit of churches. Later he was sent to Muriae to a large circuit of seventeen preaching points. Two daughters were born while they were still in the USA and a son was born in Bahia. Martha worked in the home, as a Sunday School teacher, choir director and wherever she was needed. In Juiz de Fora, Leon served churches. Then he was assigned to be director of the Seminary in Belo Horizonte where both taught and Leon had a church. Martha was the Bishop's assistant. Then Martha became a pastor, the first woman to be ordained elder in that conference. They had separate churches, and both taught in the seminary.
At the Brazilian bishop's request, they returned to the US. Martha received her M.A. in Christian Education at Garrett Theological School, and Leon itinerated. They returned to Brazil where in Juiz de Flora, both served as chaplains at Granberry Institute, as well as serving churches. Then, in Belo Horizonte, they had separate appointments to charges that needed churches built. They retired December 1991 and continued in Brazil as volunteers for six years in Espirito Santo State, where they built one church and remodeled another. There is a Martha Strunk Methodist Home for Children in Bahia, named for her. (See the December, 1997 Response magazine.) There was a kindergarten named for Leon that is now closed. They left Brazil in April 1998, visited their children and grandchildren, and arrived at Brooks-Howell Home in May. They will be a valuable addition to the Brooks-Howell Family.