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Marleah Kenoyer, Medical Missionary

By July 23, 2015No Comments

HILLIARD, Ohio—Marleah Kenoyer, a medical missionary, died July 20, 2015, at age 93.

Marleah was born in Grant County, Indiana, on June 29, 1922. She received degrees in science and education from Marian College and her nursing degree from Indiana University, where she met her husband, Quentin Kenoyer, MD.

Following their wedding on Christmas Day 1946, they knew they wanted to be missionaries but couldn’t decide where: Quentin wanted to go to China; Marleah, to Africa. Their path soon became clear, though, when they met Dr. Galen Crozier, a Baptist Mid-Missions medical missionary to India. He asked the couple to take over the work he had started in 1935 in Alipur, and they agreed.

Quentin, Marleah, and their two young children arrived in Calcutta, India, in April 1951.

After the couple attended language school to learn Manipuri and Bengali, Marleah became a nurse at the hospital in Alipur where Quentin served. “Marleah faced many unique challenges on the field,” says Baptist Mid-Missions. “Milk would go sour before the day was out because the kerosene fridge was full of plasma, blood, and snake serum.”

In addition to working as a nurse, she also started the Burrows Memorial Christian Hospital School of Nursing in India and became its director.

The Kenoyers returned to the U.S. in 1977 when the Indian government restricted the renewal of visas. Settling in Cleveland, Marleah worked at the medical clinic that Quentin had begun as a ministry of Baptist Mid-Missions.

In 2014 Baptist Mid-Missions awarded the couple the William C. Haas Lifetime Service Award.

BMM says, “Throughout their lives, Quentin and Marleah served without fanfare and didn’t expect the accolades the world offers. Yet, through the service the Kenoyers humbly offered up to God, the Lord built His church in India, and strengthened His people in Ohio, and spread His influence throughout the world.”

Marleah was preceded in death by her husband on Dec. 3, 2014.

She is survived by her five children; seven grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandson.

A memorial service will be held July 25 at Maranatha Baptist Church, Columbus, Ohio, at noon, with calling hours at 11:00 a.m.