May 25, 1926 - January 29, 2012
Dr. John Alexander Gration, age 85, a resident of Windsor Park in Carol Stream, IL, died Sunday, January 29, 2012 at home. He was born May 25, 1926.
An avid scholar from the beginning, he studied Latin while helping his Father tend the gardens of the wealthy in Princeton, NJ, joined the Navy during WWII and moved on to adulthood long before other boys his age.
Not one to shy away from adventure, in 1952, John and his wife Dorothy, along with their 13 month old son, Scott, boarded a cargo ship bound for Cape Town, South Africa—the only passengers on ship besides the crew. John would serve as principal of a Bible School in the Belgium Congo, teaching in French and Swahili for the next 12 years. Gration's tenure at the Bible School was cut short when he had to leave his jungle assignment abruptly because of a tropical disease he contracted.
John and his young family would narrowly escape death during three Congolese uprisings, the last one coming in 1964, at which time John and his family had to leave all their possessions behind, including a beloved family dog, and with an African friend guiding them through the forests for three days, come at last to safety.
John went on to establish a new life and ministry for himself and his family in Kenya where he taught at a Bible School, just outside Nairobi on a mission station where Teddy Roosevelt had laid the corner stone in 1929 for the Rift Valley Academy, also a part of the mission station.
Upon returning to the United States in 1967, John completed his Ph.D. from New York University and after serving as Associate Home Director for Africa Inland Mission, he joined the faculty of Wheaton College Graduate School as Professor of Missions and Chair of the Missions/Intercultural and Evangelism Department where he served for 20 years until his retirement in 1995. Though he was a true scholar, he had the ability to come out of the Ivory Tower to make his courses practical. He lived his life fully devoted to God, his family and value of learning.
John is survived by his wife of 64 years, Dorothy, three children, Scott (Judy) Gration, Barbara (Scott) Harbert, and Judy (George) Kohl and 11 grandchildren.
A visitation will be held on Saturday, February 4, 2012 from 4 until 8 pm at Hultgren Funeral Home, 304 N. Main St. in Wheaton. A funeral service will be held February 5, 2012 at 3:00 pm at Wheaton Bible Church, 27W500 North Ave., West Chicago, IL 60185. Interment will be held in Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood, Illinois.
Memorial gifts may be directed to Wheaton College, John Gration Family Scholarship for Missions, 501 College Ave., Wheaton, IL 60187 or Africa Inland Mission, John Gration Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 3611 Peachtree City, GA 30269-7611.
Dr. John Alexander Gration, age 85, a resident of Windsor Park in Carol Stream, IL, died Sunday, January 29, 2012 at home. He was born May 25, 1926.
An avid scholar from the beginning, he studied Latin while helping his Father tend the gardens of the wealthy in Princeton, NJ, joined the Navy during WWII and moved on to adulthood long before other boys his age.
Not one to shy away from adventure, in 1952, John and his wife Dorothy, along with their 13 month old son, Scott, boarded a cargo ship bound for Cape Town, South Africa—the only passengers on ship besides the crew. John would serve as principal of a Bible School in the Belgium Congo, teaching in French and Swahili for the next 12 years. Gration's tenure at the Bible School was cut short when he had to leave his jungle assignment abruptly because of a tropical disease he contracted.
John and his young family would narrowly escape death during three Congolese uprisings, the last one coming in 1964, at which time John and his family had to leave all their possessions behind, including a beloved family dog, and with an African friend guiding them through the forests for three days, come at last to safety.
John went on to establish a new life and ministry for himself and his family in Kenya where he taught at a Bible School, just outside Nairobi on a mission station where Teddy Roosevelt had laid the corner stone in 1929 for the Rift Valley Academy, also a part of the mission station.
Upon returning to the United States in 1967, John completed his Ph.D. from New York University and after serving as Associate Home Director for Africa Inland Mission, he joined the faculty of Wheaton College Graduate School as Professor of Missions and Chair of the Missions/Intercultural and Evangelism Department where he served for 20 years until his retirement in 1995. Though he was a true scholar, he had the ability to come out of the Ivory Tower to make his courses practical. He lived his life fully devoted to God, his family and value of learning.
John is survived by his wife of 64 years, Dorothy, three children, Scott (Judy) Gration, Barbara (Scott) Harbert, and Judy (George) Kohl and 11 grandchildren.
A visitation will be held on Saturday, February 4, 2012 from 4 until 8 pm at Hultgren Funeral Home, 304 N. Main St. in Wheaton. A funeral service will be held February 5, 2012 at 3:00 pm at Wheaton Bible Church, 27W500 North Ave., West Chicago, IL 60185. Interment will be held in Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood, Illinois.
Memorial gifts may be directed to Wheaton College, John Gration Family Scholarship for Missions, 501 College Ave., Wheaton, IL 60187 or Africa Inland Mission, John Gration Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 3611 Peachtree City, GA 30269-7611.
May 25, 1926 - January 29, 2012
Dr. John Alexander Gration, age 85, a resident of Windsor Park in Carol Stream, IL, died Sunday, January 29, 2012 at home. He was born May 25, 1926.
An avid scholar from the beginning, he studied Latin while helping his Father tend the gardens of the wealthy in Princeton, NJ, joined the Navy during WWII and moved on to adulthood long before other boys his age.
Not one to shy away from adventure, in 1952, John and his wife Dorothy, along with their 13 month old son, Scott, boarded a cargo ship bound for Cape Town, South Africa—the only passengers on ship besides the crew. John would serve as principal of a Bible School in the Belgium Congo, teaching in French and Swahili for the next 12 years. Gration's tenure at the Bible School was cut short when he had to leave his jungle assignment abruptly because of a tropical disease he contracted.
John and his young family would narrowly escape death during three Congolese uprisings, the last one coming in 1964, at which time John and his family had to leave all their possessions behind, including a beloved family dog, and with an African friend guiding them through the forests for three days, come at last to safety.
John went on to establish a new life and ministry for himself and his family in Kenya where he taught at a Bible School, just outside Nairobi on a mission station where Teddy Roosevelt had laid the corner stone in 1929 for the Rift Valley Academy, also a part of the mission station.
Upon returning to the United States in 1967, John completed his Ph.D. from New York University and after serving as Associate Home Director for Africa Inland Mission, he joined the faculty of Wheaton College Graduate School as Professor of Missions and Chair of the Missions/Intercultural and Evangelism Department where he served for 20 years until his retirement in 1995. Though he was a true scholar, he had the ability to come out of the Ivory Tower to make his courses practical. He lived his life fully devoted to God, his family and value of learning.
John is survived by his wife of 64 years, Dorothy, three children, Scott (Judy) Gration, Barbara (Scott) Harbert, and Judy (George) Kohl and 11 grandchildren.
A visitation will be held on Saturday, February 4, 2012 from 4 until 8 pm at Hultgren Funeral Home, 304 N. Main St. in Wheaton. A funeral service will be held February 5, 2012 at 3:00 pm at Wheaton Bible Church, 27W500 North Ave., West Chicago, IL 60185. Interment will be held in Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood, Illinois.
Memorial gifts may be directed to Wheaton College, John Gration Family Scholarship for Missions, 501 College Ave., Wheaton, IL 60187 or Africa Inland Mission, John Gration Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 3611 Peachtree City, GA 30269-7611.
Dr. John Alexander Gration, age 85, a resident of Windsor Park in Carol Stream, IL, died Sunday, January 29, 2012 at home. He was born May 25, 1926.
An avid scholar from the beginning, he studied Latin while helping his Father tend the gardens of the wealthy in Princeton, NJ, joined the Navy during WWII and moved on to adulthood long before other boys his age.
Not one to shy away from adventure, in 1952, John and his wife Dorothy, along with their 13 month old son, Scott, boarded a cargo ship bound for Cape Town, South Africa—the only passengers on ship besides the crew. John would serve as principal of a Bible School in the Belgium Congo, teaching in French and Swahili for the next 12 years. Gration's tenure at the Bible School was cut short when he had to leave his jungle assignment abruptly because of a tropical disease he contracted.
John and his young family would narrowly escape death during three Congolese uprisings, the last one coming in 1964, at which time John and his family had to leave all their possessions behind, including a beloved family dog, and with an African friend guiding them through the forests for three days, come at last to safety.
John went on to establish a new life and ministry for himself and his family in Kenya where he taught at a Bible School, just outside Nairobi on a mission station where Teddy Roosevelt had laid the corner stone in 1929 for the Rift Valley Academy, also a part of the mission station.
Upon returning to the United States in 1967, John completed his Ph.D. from New York University and after serving as Associate Home Director for Africa Inland Mission, he joined the faculty of Wheaton College Graduate School as Professor of Missions and Chair of the Missions/Intercultural and Evangelism Department where he served for 20 years until his retirement in 1995. Though he was a true scholar, he had the ability to come out of the Ivory Tower to make his courses practical. He lived his life fully devoted to God, his family and value of learning.
John is survived by his wife of 64 years, Dorothy, three children, Scott (Judy) Gration, Barbara (Scott) Harbert, and Judy (George) Kohl and 11 grandchildren.
A visitation will be held on Saturday, February 4, 2012 from 4 until 8 pm at Hultgren Funeral Home, 304 N. Main St. in Wheaton. A funeral service will be held February 5, 2012 at 3:00 pm at Wheaton Bible Church, 27W500 North Ave., West Chicago, IL 60185. Interment will be held in Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood, Illinois.
Memorial gifts may be directed to Wheaton College, John Gration Family Scholarship for Missions, 501 College Ave., Wheaton, IL 60187 or Africa Inland Mission, John Gration Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 3611 Peachtree City, GA 30269-7611.
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