Tribute

Irene Muriel Wuest was called Home on September 24, 2022 at the age of 100. She was born in
Seattle, Washington, the youngest daughter of Homer West Read and Isa Robinson Read. Frank C. Wuest, her husband of 70 years, died in December 2021. She is survived by her four children – Sarah (Chris) Staples of Kalamazoo, MI, Sharon Benner of Baldwin, MI, Stephen Wuest of Tucson, AZ, and Judith Wuest of Kalamazoo, MI; her grandson Christopher (Katie) Benner of Hudsonville, MI, and two great grandchildren, Daphne and Xavier.

Irene earned her BS in nursing with Phi Beta Kappa honors from the University of Washington, and a three-year diploma from Prairie Bible Institute before joining the China Inland Mission (now OMF International) and sailing for China in 1948. Frank and Irene were engaged to be married while studying Mandarin in Shanghai. The communist takeover of China occurred in 1949 and they became part of “the reluctant exodus,” returning home to the United States in 1951.

Frank and Irene were married in Seattle on August 25, 1951 and moved back to Asia in 1952. They served in student work in Taiwan for nine years and at the CIM Orientation Centre in Singapore for five years. In 1967 they moved to Buffalo, New York and ministered for the next fourteen years at Christian Fellowship Baptist Church and Emmanuel Baptist Church in Barrie, Ontario. From 1981 to 1991 they served with OMF in Toronto, retiring to Abbotsford, BC in 1992.

Irene was a loving mother, creative cook, accomplished seamstress and woodworker, delighted gardener, classical music lover, and faithful letter writer. Many people valued her steadfast friendship and wise counsel. She aspired to a life of service, citing Romans 11:29; 12: 1-2. “As God does not change His mind about His gifts and calling…I beseech you…that You present your bodies as a living sacrifice…holy acceptable unto God; this is your reasonable service. And don’t let the world squeeze you into its mold, but be transformed by learning to think God’s thought; then you will be able to prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”