Ethel Umble

Her music career began early, starting with piano lessons at age five. At thirteen years of age she became a church organist and was named one of the two finest high school pianists in the nation at the 1934 National High School Piano Competition.

Ethel graduated from Elston High School at age 15 and went on to study for four years at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. She was a featured piano soloist with the Michigan City Symphony Orchestra.

In 1941 she married William C. Kambs, Jr. In 1955 they moved to Elkhart, Indiana where Ethel accompanied the Elkhart High School choirs under William Gowdy. She served as organist for Trinity United Methodist Church, First Presbyterian Church, pianist for the Elkhart Symphony Orchestra, and gave private piano and organ lessons.

Following her husband’s death in 1969, she spent a year in Mennonite Voluntary Service in Oita, Japan teaching English and developing a church choir. Upon her return, she enrolled at Goshen College and completed her long-awaited Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1975, while working part-time in the Music Department office and providing private piano instruction.

She was then invited to become the hostess  at the London Mennonite Centre in England where she served until receiving a memorable visit (and marriage proposal) from professor Roy H. Umble. They were married in 1978, which marked the beginning of a new chapter of her life in the Mennonite community and opened the door for many service opportunities and world travel. They served in China as scholars-in-residence through the China Educational Exchange and in Belize as SST leaders for Goshen College students.

Ethel was a member of College Mennonite Church, serving as an organist there for many decades. She was also a member of the American Guild of Organists, Seniors for Peace,  Hunger Concerns Ministry Group, Goshen Interfaith Hospitality Network, Outreach Commission, and Jail Ministries.  She volunteered in the GC music office, gathered with fellow peace activists for seven years on the Goshen Courthouse lawn to remember victims and service persons who lost their lives in the Iraq and Afghanistan war and pray for their families and for peace. She was part of a team that worked to end the use of depleted uranium, and went to Israel with the Christian Peacemaker Team delegation as an advocate for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Most of all, her passion was known by expressing her deep faith in God through her compassion for everyone she touched. She lived out the words of Jesus in Matthew 25—she fed the hungry, welcomed the stranger, and visited those in prison.  Truly, she was a “good and faithful” servant.

Survivors include two daughters, Judith (Dennis) Flora, Granger, Indiana; Kathy (Thomas) Fackelman, West Lafayette, Indiana; and son William (Cheryl) Kambs, Elkhart, Indiana; two step-daughters, Janet (Stanley) Reedy, Washington, D.C., and Alice (John) Klassen, Fort Langley, British Columbia; brother August Korn, California, 12 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at College Mennonite Church Friday,  August 19, 2016, at 1:30 p.m.  Memorial contributions may be made to the Roy Umble Scholarship Fund (Goshen College), College Mennonite Church, or Mennonite Board of Missions.