Mary Lucille MARTIN

1934 - 27 DEC 2022

• BIRTH: 1934, Wakarusa, Elkhart County, IN
• DEATH: 27 DEC 2022, Goshen, Elkhart, IN

• MARRIAGE: 19 JUN 1954, June 19, 1954, at Yellow Creek Mennonite Church. Elkhart County, IN

INDEX

[N34130] Mary Lucille Martin
1934 - December 27, 2022

Mary Lucille (Martin) Christophel of Goshen, Indiana, passed away after a brief illness on Tuesday, December 27, 2022. She had reached her eighty-eighth birthday on December 8, 2022. Mary was born in 1934, in rural Wakarusa, to Homer and Emma (Kilmer) Martin. She grew up in the country, the middle of five children. Mary’s family was Wisler Mennonite for many of her growing-up years. She attended a one-room schoolhouse for eight years and then Nappanee High School, from which she graduated in 1953. She was one of only five Mennonites in her high school. After high school, Mary took classes for one year at Goshen College. She married the love of her life, Jim Christophel, on June 19, 1954, at Yellow Creek Mennonite Church. Following her long family tradition of Mennonite quilters and artists, Mary made her own wedding dress-arriving home from Goshen College just in time to complete it. After their wedding, Jim and Mary lived in Goshen before moving to Chicago for a year of service and later to Fish Lake and Muncie, Indiana, and Harrisonville, Missouri. They ultimately settled in South Bend, where they lived for forty years. Following Jim’s retirement, they moved to Greencroft Goshen, where they lived for twelve years. Together Jim and Mary raised four children. Mary loved and invested in each of them, as well as in her grandchildren. She loved to read, including reading aloud to her children and grandchildren when they were young. She held a number of jobs over the years-working at Montgomery Ward catalog, as a Cory Coffee sales representative, and as a grocery store broker (complete with a company car). Mary cut and pieced the “Tree of Life,” a quilted banner designed by artist Sibyl Graber Gerig that hangs at Kern Road Mennonite Church. The piece has been described as a Mennonite stained-glass window. In reflecting on her efforts, Mary later wrote that she worshipped God best with her hands. Mary was deeply committed to living out her faith by serving others, including helping launch Kern Road Mennonite Church’s Global Gifts store, now Ten Thousand Villages. Mary is survived by her husband, Jim; 3 children, Michael Christophel, Conyers, GA, Susan Miller Barrows, Augusta, ME, and Mark (Kathy) Christophel, McKinney, TX; 3 siblings, Nelson (Mary) Martin, Dot (Mel) Keim, and Erma (Leon) Martin Yost; 6 grandchildren, Hannah (Sam) Wiswell, Naomi (Brittany) Miller, Abigail Christophel, Graham Christophel, Johanna (Adam) Smith, and Eva Ruth (Nathan) Bierema; and 1 great-grandson, Grayson Wiswell. She was pre-deceased by her parents, son, Stephen Christophel, and brother, Virgil Martin. The family will receive visitors at 10:00 am on Saturday, April 1, 2023, at Waterford Mennonite Church, Goshen. A service of remembrance will immediately follow at 11:00 am with Pastor Deron Bergstresser officiating. Mary donated her body to Indiana University School of Medicine to support future scientific research. Donations in Mary’s memory may be made to Mennonite Central Committee or Waterford Mennonite Church.

Posted online on January 04, 2023
Published in South Bend Tribune