Word has been received of the death of Mabel Marken, the wife of the late Grace Brethren pastor, Don Marken. Bud Olszewski, pastor of the Grace Brethren Church, Rittman, Ohio, remembers the Markens. “Mabel was the wife of Don, who served several GBC’s as pastor. He often took churches that could not afford to pay, thus making him a tent maker pastor. My closest association with him was while I served at Cuyahoga Falls. He took a mechanical inspector job in nearby Tallmadge and would live in the Falls from Sunday night to Friday and attend church most Sunday nights and always on Wednesday. What a great encouragement he was for a young pastor at a small struggling work.”
Mabel Christina Marken, 95, of Chesterhill, Ohio, went peacefully home to be with the Lord on Saturday, November 22, 2014 at the home of her daughter, Carol, following a period of declining health.
Mabel was born Jan. 1, 1919 in Creston, Ohio, to the late John and Delia (Hobbs) Hubacher and was a 1939 graduate of Sterling High School. She married Donald Marken on Oct. 25, 1941 and he preceded her in death on Jan. 16, 2001. She was a member of the Marietta Bible Center and enjoyed serving the Lord all of her life.
Surviving are her daughters and sons-in-law, Beverly and Robert McKinney, of Belpre, Ohio, and Carol and Carl Lewis of Chesterhill; granddaughters and great-grandchildren, Fawna Marken Willford and husband Kevin and their son, Nathan, and Melissa Sansone and husband, Frank, and their children, Josiah, Christina and Rebekah; and a sister, Norma Lagomarsino of Medford, Oregon.
She was preceded in death by her husband; brothers, Ernest, John, and Raymond; and sisters, Mary Hubacher and Virginia Bowes.
Services will be Wednesday, November 26, at 2:00 p.m. at Murray Funeral Home in Creston with Pastor Myron Guiler officiating. Burial will be in Sterling Crown Hill Cemetery. Friends may call one hour prior to services. Tributes may be shared at www.Murray-Funeral-Home.com Memorial contributions may be made to Marietta Bible College, 4070 Muskingum Dr., Marietta, OH 45750.