Opal Elizabeth Gunden

Opal Elizabeth Barkey Gunden died Wednesday, March 23, 2016 at the age of 92 in her home on Woodward Place in Goshen, Indiana where she lived for 60 years.

Opal was born September 8, 1923 in her childhood home on the Beech Road in Penn Township to Elmer Hunsberger Barkey and Dola Mast Barkey, who predeceased her.  Their farm had already been in her family for three generations; her great-grandfathers cleared the land.  She shared many adventures as well as chores with her two sisters, Mildred Kathleen Barkey Eby and Fern Della Barkey Henderson.

Opal attended the Boner School, then Wakarusa High School from which she graduated in 1941.  Having decided that she wanted to work as a teacher with young children, Opal enrolled at Goshen College to pursue a degree in elementary education.  She remembered those years at Goshen College as among the best of her life.  She made many lifelong friends, living in Kulp Hall and participating in a variety of activities including the Avon Literary Society, the Audubon Society, and playing basketball.  Opal met Ralph Gunden during her freshman year.  They enjoyed each other’s company very much, but after Ralph’s sophomore year they were separated as a result of World War II.  Ralph was away in Civilian Public Service camps for several years, after which he volunteered to do relief work for the Mennonite Central Committee in Europe after the war.

After graduation from Goshen College in 1945, Opal accepted a position teaching first grade at Jimtown.  She and Ralph continued to correspond, and in the spring of 1948 Opal traveled by herself to Basel, Switzerland where they were married on June 5.  After a summer of travel and service, Opal returned to continue teaching at Jimtown.  Ralph returned in January 1949 and returned to Goshen College as both a student and an employee.  Opal continued to teach at Jimtown until the end of the school year in 1951.

Their daughter Elizabeth Ann was born in 1952, another daughter, Mary Jean in 1954, and a son James Michael in 1958.  She was a homemaker, devoting herself to the love and care of her family.  She was an active member of the College Mennonite Church, and for many years taught Sunday School and summer Bible School.  She continued her interest in the well-being of children, and after her own children were grown volunteered at a breakfast program for children in North Goshen.  She delivered Meals on Wheels from 1978 through 2013.

Opal was a kind and loving caregiver, first to her parents, and later to Ralph after he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

Opal loved flowers and spent summers working in her flower garden.  She was a familiar sight to neighbors and passers-by planting, weeding, watering her flowers, mowing her lawn, and raking leaves which she continued to do though the fall of 2015.  She also enjoyed arranging flowers, which she did for family and friends as well as for the College Mennonite Church in the 1980’s.

Ralph and Opal continued to enjoy opportunities to travel abroad.  They celebrated their 25th anniversary in 1973 by taking their three children with them to tour Europe.  Since 1990, their family has enjoyed an annual summer family vacation.

Opal is survived by her daughters, Elizabeth Gunden and her husband Geoffrey Landis of Goshen, Mary Jean Gunden of Moraga, California, and her son James and his wife Suzanne Gunden of Sellersville, Pennsylvania.  Her grandchildren were her joy:  Andrew Gunden Landis of San Francisco, California and Michael Ralph, Erica Jean, and Gabriel James Gunden of Sellersville, Pennsylvania.  She is also survived by her sister, Mildred Kathleen Barkey Eby of Wakarusa. She was very fond of her Barkey and Gunden nieces and nephews, their children and their grandchildren.

She was predeceased by her husband, Ralph Jason Gunden on November 28, 2000.  Her sister, Fern Della Barkey Henderson of Gibsonburg, Ohio died in February, 1992.

A memorial service will be held at the College Mennonite Church in Goshen, Indiana on Thursday, March 31, 2016 at 11:00 am.  Visitation will take place on Wednesday, March 30, 2016 from 3:00 to 5:00 and 6:00 to 8:00 pm also at the College Mennonite Church.  A private graveside service will be held in Violett Cemetery.

Yoder Culp Funeral Home is in charge of funeral arrangements.

Memorial donations may be made to MEDA (Mennonite Economic Development Associates) or the College Mennonite Church Jubilee Fund.

The family wishes to thank Opal’s caregivers from Compassionate Caregivers and Greencroft at Home, and IU Health Goshen Home Care and Hospice.