Mennonite Weekly Review

GOSHEN, Ind. — Even as a mission administrator in charge of a leprosy hospital in India, John A. Friesen was a pastor at heart, remembered for his love for the beggars and lepers of his village and for the growth of the church.

John and Genevieve Friesen visit with patients at the Shantipur Leprosy Home in Dhamtari, India, in 1970. — Photo provided by MMN

John A. Friesen, in the center of a three-generation family legacy of service in India, died March 20 at Courtyard Healthcare. He was 93.

Friesen and his wife, Genevieve, served in India with Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities from 1939 to 1981, with short periods of deputation, family medical care and refreshment in the United States.

As an India-born worker whose native language was Hindi, his primary concern was Mennonite church planting in India.

He worked for 41 years to strengthen and enlarge the witness of the Mennonite Church in India.

“We remember him with affection and honor,” said Amy Jiwanlal of the Mennonite Church in India. “He became a part of the sick, poor, weak [and] old people around him and talked, ate and sat with them to fulfill the Lord’s command, and this is how he told them that Jesus loved them.”

Son Stan Friesen recalled his father spending nearly every evening and Sunday praying with and blessing the sickest of the leprosy patients, many of whom were in pain from reactions to the medicine given for their leprosy.

P.K. Singh, secretary of the Mennonite Church in India, said Indian Mennonites mourn Friesen’s passing and remember his artistic and musical talent and his faith.

“He was keen in evangelism, preaching to patients as well as to others,” Singh said.

Friesen was born Nov. 30, 1915, in Jamgaon, India, to Peter Abram and Helena (Hiebert) Friesen. His mother died in India when he was very young; two of his sisters also died in childhood in India. Friesen was raised by his stepmother, Florence (Cooprider) Friesen. He married Genevieve Yoder on June 13, 1939, in Topeka, Ind., and they sailed for India in October of that year. She died June 12, 2002.