Obituary Of Our Beloved Paul Swarr

Paul Leaman Swarr, 1927-2025

Paul Leaman Swarr, age 97, graduated to glory  on January 31, 2025, while living in the Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community (VMRC) in Harrisonburg, VA. The family will have a private burial. A Celebration of Life Memorial Service is being planned for a later date, and will be announced on the McMullen Funeral Home website. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to VMRC at www.vmrc.org.  Online condolences may be sent to the family by visiting www.mcmullenfh.com.  

Paul was born November 10, 1927 to Harry Cassel Swarr and Kathryn Leaman Swarr in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, USA. At the age of 19 he joined with 29 other young Mennonite “cowboy volunteers” to chaperone 600 mules across the ocean to war-ravaged Europe. This experience opened his eyes and heart to the international world, and ultimately to the call to serve God’s purposes in Israel for 30 years.

Paul attended Hempfield High School in Landisville, PA, and graduated from Eastern Mennonite School in Harrisonburg, VA. He received a Bible and Theology degree from Eastern Mennonite College, and a Bachelor of Theology degree from Goshen Biblical Seminary. While in college he was the baritone in the Crusader Quartet, which traveled the country with tent meetings, held evangelistic outreaches in NY City, recorded six 78-rpm albums, and was instrumental in the development of The Mennonite Hour radio broadcast. He was ordained to the ministry in his home church in East Petersburg, and served in pastoral ministry in a variety of settings: as youth pastor at St. Jacobs, Ontario; as roving pastor to 1-W units on the East Coast; as co-pastor at Beit Immanuel in Israel; as pastor at Powhatan Mennonite Church, VA; and as lead pastor on the pastoral team of Hope Christian Fellowship in Richmond, VA. He also served for a number of years as Warwick District Overseer for the Virginia Mennonite Conference. 

In 1955 Paul married Bertha Carolyn Wenger. They had three children, and enjoyed 64 years of marriage before Bertha preceded him in death on April 9, 2019. Their life motto was, “Laborers together with God” (I Corin. 3:9). Paul and Bertha responded to the call to serve the Lord in Israel, and sailed in 1957 to this infant nation formed in 1948 in the shadow of WWII and the Holocaust. Paul considers their 30 years in Israel to be the most fulfilling time of his life and ministry. While there he taught math to high school children in a Baptist orphanage, worked as a tour guide and manager of Sharon Tours which catered to Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land, served as General Secretary of the United Christian Counsel in Israel which provided a united voice to the government, and served as co-pastor of a Messianic congregation at Beit Immanuel in Jaffa, mentoring the next generation of church leadership. After returning to the US, Paul and Bertha spent 20 years with Youth With A Mission (YWAM), pioneering the school of Church Planting and Leadership in Ghana, South Africa, and Brazil, as well as pioneering the School of Jewish Studies. They also served as a pastoral couple to the YWAM staff in Richmond, VA.

Paul is survived by his three children: son David Swarr (and wife Sharon) of Richmond, VA; daughter Evelyn Hostetter (and husband Jay) of Ruther Glen, VA; daughter Carolyn Stauffer (and husband Carl) of Harrisonburg, VA. He has seven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren:  Mary Psalm Araujo (and husband Daniel and 2 children) of Richmond, VA; Arielle Swarr of Richmond, VA; Timothy Hostetter (and wife Ella and 5 children) of Ruther Glen, VA; Rose Rector (and husband Nick and 1 child) of Ruther Glen, VA; Cynthia Hostetter of Ruther Glen, VA; Christopher Stauffer (and wife Elana) of San Francisco, CA; Grace Lamay (and husband Ibrahim and 1 child) of Arlington, VA.

Paul will be warmly remembered for his pastoral heart, humility, kindness, patience, his encouraging words, listening ear, calming presence, servant heart, and his deep love for his Lord who was central to every facet of his life. Paul lived faithfully and loved well.  

Arrangements are being handled by McMullen Funeral Home (www.mcmullenfh.com)

February 2025 newsletter (3:30 pm)

2 at Crestwood, ground floor

Worship and Sharing: 

Bible Study (James 3:1-12): Harvey Yoder

9 at Crestwood
Worship and Sharing
Bible Study: Dick Dumas

16 at Crestwood

Annual "business meeting" with communion 

c/o Harvey Yoder

23 at Crestwood

Worship and Sharing: Harvey Yoder

Bible Study (James 3:13-18 and 1:5-8): Elly Marshall

Harvey's Eulogy at James Stauffer's Memorial Service

 

James Kolb Stauffer 1/8/20-11/13/24

I can’t tell you what a blessing it’s been having James and Ruth Stauffer be a part of our house church congregation for the past nearly 25 years, and such a valued part of my personal life. It was a great gift having Jim join our fellowship back in the year 2000, as someone with years of experience in church leadership here in the states and abroad, and bringing with him the wisdom gained from all those years, along with bringing his wife Ruth, his faithful companion, as a wonderful bonus gift.

Jim was not only an esteemed brother and colleague in ministry, but was like a father and mentor to me, in his own quiet, gentle way reminding me of the apostle Paul’s words in his first letter to the Corinthian house church, “you may have ten thousand mentors in Christ, but few fathers. I gave birth to you in Christ Jesus through the gospel, so I encourage you to follow my example.”

As a missionary and pastor, he was engaged in birthing and nurturing believers abroad and continued to work in a father-like pastoral role with churches here in the states, including providing some pastoral leadership to the Vietnamese congregation in the DC area. Jim was too modest a person to ever want to draw attention to himself or to his work, but it’s hard to imagine anyone who so consistently demonstrated Christ-likeness and the good fruit of the Spirit—love joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control. He would be the last person in the world to claim perfection, but it’s just really hard to find fault with this man. I can’t recall a single unkind word coming out of his mouth or a single act that was anything but an expression of I Corinthians 13, the agape love chapter, a lived out version which could read like this:

“James was patient and kind, never jealous or boastful, arrogant or rude. James never sought his own advantage, was never irritable, or kept a record of wrongs, was never on the side of injustice but always an advocate for truth, ever persevering, always trusting, always hoping, always enduring.”

And like the committed Anabaptist he was, he was a consistent advocate for peace and justice, a generous giver to all kinds of good causes, someone who lived simply and frugally, someone who gave hours and weeks of volunteer time in his retirement using his carpentry and drywalling skills with Mennonite Disaster Service and other opportunities, not unlike another James, the late James Earl “Jimmy”Carter. Each could have said, as did missionary Paul, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” And Jim exemplified what yet another James, the author of the New Testament letter by that name, wrote, “I’ll show you my faith by putting it to practice in faithful action.”

But he would be too modest and unassuming to say that. But that was the Jim we grew to love and appreciate. 

In one of my visits with Ruth after Jim’s passing we were each lamenting his loss. She expressed gratitude for his companionship and for his consistently good character. And she said, repeatedly, “I want to be like him.” “I want to be like him.” 

We echo that desire, that prayer, today. 

A wise rabbi once said, “Each of us dies twice, “Once when we breathe our last breath, a second time when no one any longer speaks our name.” We will continue to speak his name for as long as we live, but the best way for us to memorialize him is to follow his example, to learn from him, as he learned from his Master and Lord, Jesus, how to live life to the fullest. Quoting Jimmy Carter, to “do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, with whatever I have, to try to make a difference.”

Well done, good and faithful servant. Welcome home to the everlasting and grace-filled joy of the Lord!

Amen.

Here's a link to Jim's obituary:

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/3900344270004798491/6176493536664362403