ELKHART, Indiana (Mennonite Mission Network) – Dorothy Helen Metzler Brunk, 90, died April 1 at Walnut Hills Nursing Home in Walnut Creek, Ohio, and a memorial service was held June 16 at Greencroft in Goshen, Indiana.
Dorothy and her husband, Lawrence, served in Argentina with Mennonite Board of Missions, a predecessor agency of Mennonite Mission Network. Their assignment spanned nearly three decades, from 1949-1978. Lawrence preceded Dorothy in death in December 2013.
When missionary colleagues describe Dorothy, it seems they are detailing the personality profile of the gospel’s ideal ambassador.
“She loved people without reserve and was dearly loved in return,” said Genny Schwartzentruber, whose ministry in Argentina overlapped with Dorothy’s from 1961-1973. “[Dorothy] was able to accommodate and adapt her desires to the situation at hand.”
Mattie and Mike Mast learned to know the Brunks in Argentina, and then were reacquainted in Pennsylvania when the Brunks attended Oley Valley Mennonite Church where Mike was pastor. The Masts observed that Dorothy didn’t only do mission when she was in international settings.
“Dorothy was a pleasant addition to our congregation, faithful in raising her hands in worship and willing to say an occasional ‘Amen,’” Mattie Mast said. “She was also a mentor to young girls with her warm, caring heart.”
Dorothy was born Feb. 16, 1925, in Inwood, West Virginia, and was the eldest of A.J. and Alta (Maust) Metzler’s six children. She attended Eastern Mennonite College, now Eastern Mennonite University. She married Lawrence in 1945 and together they raised five children.
In 1950, Mennonite Board of Missions sent the Brunks to support Mennonite congregations in the central part of Argentina. During 13 years, they lived in Pehuajo, Villegas and Floresta. Then in 1963, the Brunks returned to the United States, and Lawrence served as pastor at Jefferson Street Mennonite Church in Lima, Ohio. In 1968, the family returned to Argentina, this time to Santa Rosa. When Dorothy and Lawrence left Argentina in 1978, they served several congregations in Ohio and Pennsylvania as an interim pastoral couple.
Dorothy and Lawrence operated on the belief that strong relationships with church members would encourage faithful discipleship. They converted part of their home in Santa Rosa into an apartment for church members who needed a place to stay. Another time, they welcomed three orphaned siblings into their family for about a year.
Bernabé Corellano, who had been part of a youth group in Floresta, likened the warmth of the Brunks’ home to an oil stove and described it as “everyone’s home.” He remembers Dorothy’s hospitality and a particular instance when she served an astonishingly large bowl of banana pudding.
“These were simple things, maybe, but things that were done lovingly,” Corellano said.
Stanley W. Green, executive director of Mennonite Mission Network, said, “We appreciate the testimonies of the Brunks’ warm hospitality and strong relationships, and recognize that the way they lived contributed significantly to the development of the Mennonite churches in Argentina. We continue to see the fruits of this ministry today.”
Dorothy is survived by her children, Gary (Joey Sprague) Brunk, Louisa (Leon) Weber, Patricia (Hector Boyajian) Brunk, Susan (Scott Fraederick) Brunk, and Debra Brunk; her grandchildren, Jessica Sprague-Jones, Leticia Weber, Daniela Boyajian, Felipe Boyajian, Amanda Sprague-Brunk, Keegan Brunk Fraederick, Therese Orbea, and Matias Orbea; great-grandchildren, Anna Weber-Loomis, Zeke Weber-Loomis, Ramona Sprague-Jones, Russell Sprague-Jones, Akabi Alman Boyajian, and Charo Alman Boyajian; and siblings, Edgar and Carl Metzler, Alice Roth, Joyce Hostetler, and Jay Metzler.
