Kenneth Samuel Brunk

1929 - 2022

Kenneth Samuel Brunk went peacefully to meet his beloved Jesus on September 17, 2022. Ninety-two years ago, on December 17, 1929, in Elida, OH, he was heartily welcomed into the family of Reuben and Leah Good Brunk, He had a big brother, four older sisters, and one younger. He received his early education in local public schools. He was a student at Eastern Mennonite High School, Harrisonburg, VA for his senior year. Until he was 21, he worked with his father as a house painter, a skill he often used in later years.

Majoring in Bible, he earned a BA degree from Eastern Mennonite College (now University). He married Twila Yoder of Newport News, VA, in 1955. Together, they served for three years under Mennonite Central Committee at the Mennonite Vocational School near Taegu, South Korea, where he touched the lives of many boys orphaned during the Korean war.

Back in Virginia, he taught at the Warwick River Christian School for two years. In 1961 he was ordained as a minister before beginning his assignment with Virginia Mennonite Missions to serve in Jamaica as a pastor and mentor for 14 years. A later 7-year term in Trinidad further deepened his love of the Caribbean and its people.

Along with a group of energetic and cooperative people, he participated in organizing the Williamsburg Mennonite Church in 1976, and pastored there for 10 years.

In retirement he tended his large garden, enjoyed his role as grandfather, and was active in his church community. When later incapacitated with limited mobility, he found a calling to minister through prayer.

Margaret Stemen, (Warren, deceased) Elida, Ohio, is the only surviving member of his birth family. Sisters Lillian Amstutz (Vilas), Gladys Cressman (Lester), Gertrude Spurlock (Ford), and Miriam Heatwole (Vernon) have gone on before, as has his brother Lawrence (Dorothy).

Treasuring special memories of Ken are his wife, Twila, son, Don, and daughter-in-law Laurie, Newport News VA, his daughter, Jeannie Brunk, with son-in-law Alan Greaser of Goshen, IN. His car license plate proclaims "5 R GRND," indicating his three grandsons, Ruben and Noah Brunk, and Jacob Greaser, and two granddaughters, Abigail and Caroline Greaser. Noah and Sarah Brunk added to the happy total when great-grandsons Shepherd and Ellis were born.

Ken was well-loved for his sensitive and caring spirit, his humility, and the life he lived as a servant leader.

There will be a visitation on Saturday, September 24, 2022 from 9:30 to 10:30 AM at the Warwick River Chapel, 250A Lucas Creek Rd., Newport News, with interment at 11:00 AM at the Warwick River Mennonite Cemetery. A memorial service will follow at 11:45 AM down by the river at the Brunk & Miller properties, with a buffet lunch at 1 PM.

Arrangements by W. J. Smith & Son Funeral Home.