Mabel Virginia Brunk

The service will be livestreamed.  This link will go live 5 to 10 minutes prior to the memorial service

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF3Bk_heBuiMErAWRfv-1nQ/live

Mabel Virginia Brunk, 95, of Goshen, passed away September 7, 2021.  Mabel was the daughter of Joseph Eshelman Brunk and Alice Yoder Brunk, both deceased.  She was predeceased by her siblings: Ivan Wilson Brunk, Florida; Milton Joseph Brunk, Goshen; Adella May Kanagy, Pennsylvania and Dorothy Belle Brunk, West Virginia.  She is survived by many nieces and nephews. She was a resident of the Greencroft Community since 1992.

Mabel received her BSN in nursing from Goshen College and her MSN from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing where she graduated as valedictorian of her class. She was a nurse in Indianapolis before teaching nursing at Goshen College.

From 1959-1967 Mabel was a nurse at Pusan Children’s Charity Hospital, Pusan, Korea, under the auspices of the Mennonite Central Committee and CCF, caring for many ill and wounded abandoned and orphaned children after the Korean war.  Mabel was surprised and touched when the Korean government flew her and other nurses from this era to Korea in 2012 for a 50 ^th reunion in appreciation and recognition of their dedication and service.

During the Vietnam war, Mabel refused to pay taxes and cared for her mother near Harrisonburg, Virginia, until her mother’s death in 1977.  She worked at Ten Thousand Villages in Akron, Pennsylvania, then moved to Tampa, Florida and later Charlottesville, Virginia, where she provided private care for many children in their homes.

Mabel joined the Christian Peacemaker Team and at 80, traveled to Iraq and Palestine to promote peace between Muslims and other groups.  She acted as a Human Shield during the Iraqi war.  She was an active member of Seniors for Peace in the Goshen area and logged thousands of hours in volunteer activities on the Greencroft Campus.  She was an avid birder, was very pleased to win first prize at the Elkhart County 4H Fair for her elocution of a poem she recited and enjoyed performing in plays with the Curtain Raisers at Greencroft.

Friends will be received Friday, Sept. 10. from 10:30 until the 11:30 memorial service at Yoder-Culp Funeral Home.  Pastor Phil Waite will officiate.

In lieu of flowers, gifts in memory of Mabel may be made to the Joseph and Alice Yoder Brunk Scholarship Fund at Goshen College or a charity of the donor’s choice.