ELKHART, Ind. (Mennonite Mission Network) — Dr. Mark Allan Kniss discovered what he would do in life by watching his mission worker parents care for people in India.
Kniss will be remembered for his caring and healing of the sick, particularly as he helped to establish Nav Jivan (New Life) Hospital in Tumbagara in the Palamu District of Jharkhand of India.
Kniss, 87, of Harrisonburg, Va., passed away June 6. The funeral service was June 10 at Park View Mennonite Church.
Born in Dhamtari, India, of parents Lloy and Elizabeth Luther Kniss, Mark Kniss studied medicine in the United States and then returned to India to start a clinic. By the time he left in 1973, the clinic had expanded into a full outpatient department and 60-bed hospital. Kniss served at the hospital for more than 13 years with his wife, Betty, the hospital’s first nurse. They served with Mennonite Board of Missions, a predecessor agency to Mennonite Mission Network.
“Mark was one who really gave his life for the well-being of others,” said his sister, Esther Kniss Augsburger, who was also born in India. “For the 50th anniversary of the hospital (in 2011), he was hardly able to go physically, but two of his children went with him and he made it.”
Kniss’s colleagues in India honored him with a video tribute, portraying him as a man of great compassion who remained invested in the lives of the people in his birth country. The tribute shows Kniss involved in ministry from his youth to the days of needing a cane to walk through the hospital wards.
During the memorial service at Park View Mennonite Church, the three Kniss siblings and other family members offered remembrances of Mark Kniss.
Mark Kniss “chose to align himself with God’s purposes and God’s power,” said his nephew, Pastor Phil Kniss of Park View, who shared the tributes.
“…When miracles of God’s healing power were unfolding, when love and mercy were being shown, Mark Kniss was often right there where it was happening, in the most unlikely places … villagers in a remote part of India without medical care, or with some ill and forgotten prisoners in Rockingham County [Va.], or nursing home patients who were running out of funds and friends …” Phil Kniss said.
“Mark and my older brothers really took care of me at the boarding school and made sure that I was happy,” Augsburger said. “The important legacy would be that he was a very caring person. He gave lots of time when people wanted to see him as a doctor.”
After returning to the United States in 1974, Mark Kniss opened Park View Medical Center, a family practice in Harrisonburg. He retired in 1998, but continued to remain active. He was also the superintendent of the Avante Nursing Home in Harrisonburg. He continued to pray for and maintain connections with India. He made five trips to assist at the hospital.
“I always enjoyed going out and going to the villages and talking with people, being friendly,” Mark Kniss said in a 2011 article for Mennonite Mission Network. “The Indian people have such hospitality and friendliness that I felt they accepted me as one of them.”
Mark Kniss is survived by his wife, Betty; children, Lois K. (Dale) Jones of Richmond, James M. Kniss of Mt. Joy, Pa., Robert E. (Brenda) Kniss and Eric A. (Brenda) Kniss of Harrisonburg; two brothers, Paul G. (Naomi) Kniss of Harrisonburg and David L. (Esther) Kniss of Sarasota, Fla.; one sister, Esther K. (Myron) Augsburger, Harrisonburg; five grandchildren, Kevin D. Jones, Kristen M. Jones, Andrew R. Kniss, Jennifer M. Kniss and James Paul Kniss.
Mark Kniss requested his body be donated to the Virginia Anatomical Board and that memorial contributions be made to Mennonite Mission Network, PO Box 370, Elkhart, IN 46515, or to Virginia Mennonite Missions, 901 Parkwood Dr., Harrisonburg, VA 22802. Online condolences may be made to the family at www.mcmullenfh.com.
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Mennonite Mission Network, the mission agency of Mennonite Church USA, leads, mobilizes and equips the church to participate in holistic witness to Jesus Christ in a broken world. Media may contact news@mennonitemission.net.
