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| James with his wife Ruth at their home at VMRC's Crestwood |
James Kolb Stauffer, 94, longtime resident of Harrisonburg, passed away on Wednesday, November 13, 2024 at Crestwood at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community (VMRC).
Rev. Stauffer was born on January 8, 1930 and was a son of the late John Longacre (J.L.) and Lydia Kolb Stauffer.
Before finding his career in ministry, James was a skilled carpenter, and dry wall finisher. He was ordained in 1953 and served as pastor/co-pastor throughout his lifetime in churches in Ohio, Saigon Vietnam, Virginia, North Carolina, and Hawaii. He received his Masters in Divinity from Elkhart Anabaptist Mennonite Seminary.
He and his family served with Eastern Mennonite Missions as a minister and missionary to Vietnam from 1957 to 1975, the Philippines from 1977 to 1979, and Hawaii from 1989 to 1995. After retirement, he served as the pastor of Weavers Mennonite Church, Harrisonburg, from 1980-1986. He was a member of Family of Hope House Church.
In June 1954, he married Arlene Krupp Stauffer who preceded him in death on October 20, 1985. On August 30, 1987, he married Ruth LaVerne Yoder Stauffer who survives.
Also surviving are his children, John Lowell Stauffer and spouse Mary Beth of Lexington, NC, Rose Stauffer and spouse Leslie Kille of Littleton, CO, Carl Stauffer and spouse Carolyn of Harrisonburg; grandchildren, Michael Scott Stauffer, Christy Stauffer, Chelsea Arlene Esaki, Christopher Stauffer, E. Grace Lamay; and one great-grandchild, Teju Lamay.
In addition to his parents and first wife, Mr. Stauffer was preceded in death by his siblings, Ruth Alger and husband Robert, Lois Messner and husband Robert, Paul Stauffer and wife Ruth, J. Mark Stauffer and wife Eva.
James Stauffer was born in Harrisonburg and raised in the Mennonite community of Eastern Mennonite college. He enjoyed riding his motorcycle, playing tennis, singing, and tinkering in his workshop. He served as a Vietnamese language translator in courts and hospitals. He was an expert handyman, carpenter, and mechanic, and was a Do It Yourselfer long before that had a popular meaning. He and his wife enjoyed visiting, volunteering, helping others, and practicing acts of generosity.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Mennonite Disaster Service. Gifts in his memory can be made at mds.org/donate.
Check the “make this gift in memory of someone” box and enter James K. Stauffer. Please make checks make payable to MDS with “James Stauffer Memorial” on the memo line and mailed to: Mennonite Disaster Service, 583 Airport Rd, Lititz, PA 17543
A memorial service will be held on Friday, January 3, 2025 at the Strite Auditorium at VMRC at 2:00 p.m. A time of fellowship and refreshments will follow the service.
Online condolences may be sent to the family by visiting www.mcmullenfh.com.
McMullen Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
I post this with Elly Nelson's kind permission:
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I will rise above the grassy meadow, spiraling effortlessly upward with such grace you
will stand agape with awe;
above the grasses and the clacking yellow aspens,
above the tallest pines, where secrets you have never heard are whispered on the wind.
Higher and higher will I rise ‘til I am but a speck in your sight,
and higher still.
and you may wonder if I were but a dreamed thing after all.
I will ride the empyrean paths known only to me and God;
rising on drafts of earth-warmed air, higher even than the hawk,
climbing slowly, banking gently, my outstretched wings like burnished gold.
Yet, I will see you there below, with these eyes that see what you cannot;
wishing yourself with me,
hoping I will return…in time.
I know your little wings ofttimes beat frantically against life’s storms beyond this meadow,
Powerless ‘twould seem,
and because you stand there yet, waiting with hope in your heart, with a silent cry so
profound to see again these wings sweeping the air in power and joy, I will return.
I will gather my golden wings tightly to my sides and dip my head toward the sunlit meadow.
For the joy of seeing the wonder in your eyes,
I will speed toward you like an arrow shot from God’s own bow.
What is it then, that stirs you so to look upon this broad-winged golden bird?
Is it the power I have to rise and soar? Is it the freedom in peace to just be?
Would you have me lift you from the tethers of the earth, perhaps to glimpse eternity?
I would. For you I would, But the power you suppose I have is not of me.
I am but a bird, however grand, made and powered by the self-same hand that made
thee—small-winged only in your blindness, unable to soar, by a prison self-imposed.
It is another who has the power you seek, another who can lift you on His golden wings, if
You but ask.
It is the Holy One, the Lamb, who waits to show you flight beyond the stars,
beyond yourself, beyond whatever tiny dream you dream eternity might be.
Even as you stand there in a grassy meadow, longing to soar, yearning to set free your soul,
I see Him there beside you, waiting for you to ask Him to set you free, to teach you,
and guide you and support you lest you fall. Ask. Ask. For only on His wings are you
truly free.
©1967 Ellyn Louise Ades ©1968 Ellyn Ades Marshall ©2003-present Ellyn Marshall-Nelson
