August 2004

This group of veteran missionaries to Africa were part of the Wednesday evening Global Prayer Group that heard Eddie Mensinger’s report. Back row, from left, included Roy and Ruth Snider, Marvin Goodman and Linda and Eddie Mensinger. Front row, from left, included Dorothy Goodman and Miriam Uphouse. According to Eddie, there have now been 200 […]

Gamma A in the pre-fire days.  

Grace College’s Gamma Hall men’s dorm, a perimeter dorm located on King’s Highway in Winona Lake, Indiana, was completely destroyed by fire Monday night. Tuesday morning workmen pushed in the rubble after nearly 40 firemen from Winona Lake and Warsaw fought the blaze for 50 minutes in the middle of the night. Lightning is suspected

No cause for the fire has been determined, but a vigorous thunderstorm moved through Winona Lake about midnight Monday. The fire was discovered at 12:15 a.m., and the presumed cause was a lightning strike. 

Tuesday morning firemen watched as the rubble of the Gamma Dorm was pushed into the foundation. Some 18 Grace College men were to have occupied it next week for the coming school year. 

Too close for comfort! The former Gamma Dorm is directly across the street from the Brethren Missionary Herald offices, the Herald Bookstore, and the Winona Lake Grace Brethren Church. Here’s the view of the rubble from BMH’s front door! 

The 80-year-old former residence, according to the Warsaw Times-Union, is a total loss at about $200,000. Dean of Students Jim Swanson says, “We’re fine as far as adequate housing. We’re making plans to reassign the students from Gamma–our goal is to keep as many of the guys from the dorm together as possible.”

This pile of rubble is all that’s left of Gamma Dorm A as of Tuesday afternoon, August 10. There was also surge damage to the electrical panel at Beta Hall, but no other damage is known. Several area residents contacted the college after the fire offering to open their homes to students if housing was

Want a wonderfully informative and interesting historical presentation of the Anabaptist roots of the Grace Brethren movement? Visit the Menno-Hof complex on the west side of Rt. 5 just south of Shipshewana, Indiana, about 40 miles north and east of Winona Lake. We visited it yesterday–what a delightful experience, and so informative! Opened in 1988,

The bags have arrived at Schofield! Dick and Kay Kessler (shown here) from the Western Reserve Grace Brethren Church in Macedonia, Ohio, were among the hundreds of national conference attendees who helped stuff goody bags for military wives at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii, which Grace Brethren Chaplain James Schaefer serves. A note from Beth Bryant