Rev. Ward Schwenk, 90, of LaPorte, Indiana, died at 1:09 p.m. Friday, August 19, 2005 at St. Anthony's Hospital, Michigan City, Indiana.
A funeral service will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 24, at Cutler Funeral Home with Rev. Jack Cox and Rev. Floyd Wilcox officiating. Visitation will be held on Wednesday from noon until the time of the service. Burial will be in Heckman Cemetery.
Ward was born September 21, 1914 in Galena Township, LaPorte County, IN to John Randolph & Eliza Jane (Carter) Schwenk. On July 3, 1938, in Rolling Prairie, Indiana, he married "Fatima" Alberta Slagle, who preceded him in death April 2, 1995.
He is survived by daughters Doris Schwenk of LaPorte, Jane M. Thompson of New Buffalo, MI, Mary Pearce of LaPorte; sons John, Mark & Paul Schwenk of LaPorte and Dale Schwenk; sisters Velma Miller of Valparaiso, Thelma Eichenger of LaPorte and Marian Schwenk of Tallahassee, FL; brothers Ernest Schwenk of LaPorte and Rev. Glen Schwenk of Dayton, TN; grandchildren Karla Schultz, Stephen McKowen, Charlene Pearce, and Sarah, Tiffany, Raymond & Berene Schwenk; and 3 great-grandchildren.
An infant daughter, a grandson, Shannon Pearce, and brothers John, Donald, Charles and Thornton preceded him in death.
Ward served in the Lord's service as a minister and foreign missionary, serving one term with Livingston Memorial Mission in Tanganyika East Africa and one term with New Tribes Mission in Liberia West Africa.
He attended Mud Creek Grade School in Galena Twp and graduated from Three Oaks High School. He was a 1950 graduate of Prairie Bible Institute and a 1956 graduate of the New Tribes Mission School in Boscobel, Wisconsin. He was a WW II Army veteran, receiving a bronze star. He had attended Galena Baptist Church.
Memorials may be made to Ward's family to be used for missions work.