Annie Funk

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Annie Funk (undated).

Annie Clemmer Funk (born April 12, 1874 in Bally , Pennsylvania , USA ; † April 15, 1912 in the North Atlantic when the Titanic sank ) was an American missionary .

Life

Annie Funk was the daughter of James Bechtel Funk (1845–1929), the wealthy owner of a flour mill and deacon of the Mennonite Congregation of Bally, and his wife Susanna "Susan" Funk, b. Clemmer (1845-1913). Her ancestors were emigrants from Germany who settled in Bally at the end of the 18th century. Annie was the youngest of six children.

After attending school in West Chester , Pennsylvania graduated radio Mennonite school in Northfield ( Massachusetts ). After graduating radio began in the ghettos of Chattanooga ( Tennessee ) and Paterson ( New Jersey to work), but always dreamed of being a missionary.

This became a reality in December 1906 when she was sent to India as the first female Mennonite missionary . In the following years she worked in Janjgir-Champa , where she opened a school for 17 girls in July 1907, which she also taught. She also learned Hindi .

A telegram that she received at the end of March 1912, stating that her mother was seriously ill, prompted Funk to start the journey home to Bally. She took the train as far as Bombay , booked the Persia and on her reached Marseille in France . She reached Liverpool by train and ship . She was originally supposed to travel to America as a first class passenger on the American Line's Haverford , but was forced to rebook on the Titanic due to the coal strike. Funk traveled there with ticket no. 237671 as a second class passenger. She celebrated her 38th birthday on the Titanic .

Their careers on the night of the fall are unclear, as no surviving eyewitness remembered them. According to a source, she was woken up by her steward and came out onto the boat deck . She was about to board a lifeboat when a mother came running with her children and shouted “my children, my children”. Annie Funk is said to have stepped aside and gave this woman the last free space in the boat. However, this has never been confirmed by other sites. It is also unlikely as there was no reason to give up his seat as only two of the Titanic's 20 lifeboats were full (# 13 and # 15).

Funk was one of 12 second grade women who did not survive. Her body, when recovered, has never been identified.

Appreciation

In her memory, the school in India that she founded was renamed the Annie Funk Memorial School . The plaque attached to the school pays tribute to Annie C. Funk's life's work with the following words: “She was coming home on her first furlough, when death overtook her in the wreck of the steamship Titanic off the coast of Newfoundland. Her life was one of service in the spirit of the master - not to be ministered unto but to minister ”.

literature

  • Sharon Yoder, Jolynn Schmucker: Annie Funk. Lived to Serve, Dared to Sacrifice. 2008, ISBN 0981656919 .
  • Judith B. Geller, John P. Eaton: Titanic: Women and Children First. 1998, ISBN 0393046664 .
  • John Ruth: Maintaining the Right Fellowship. Scottdale 1984, pp. 412-414.
  • Russel Krabill: They found Annie Funk's Resting Place. In: Mennonite Weekly Review , Jan. 19, 1986.
  • Christena Duerksen: A Missionary on the Titanic. In: Mennonite Life , January 1957, pp. 44-46.
  • Article: Annie Clemmer Funk. In: Mennonite Encyclopedia. Volume V, p. 891.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Encyclopedia Titanica , accessed September 20, 2008