Robert Lewis Ramseyer, 86, died April 30, 2016, at the Mennonite Memorial Home, Bluffton. He was born May 9, 1929, in Bloomington, Ill.
In 1939, his family moved to Bluffton, where he graduated from the Bluffton High School in 1946 and Bluffton College in 1950. He and Alice Ruth Pannabecker were married in 1951.
The Ramseyers moved to Chicago to attend the Mennonite Biblical Seminary (now the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary). After Robert graduated with an M.Div. in 1954, the couple moved to Japan. There, they served three decades as missionaries with the General Conference Mennonite Church in the cities of Miyazaki, Nobeoka and Hiroshima.
Ramseyer earned an M.A. in Japanese Studies in 1959, and a Ph.D. in Anthropology in 1969, both from the University of Michigan.
He founded the Overseas Mission Training Center at the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Ind. As professor, he trained missionaries at the seminary for a decade.
The Ramseyers retired to Bluffton in 1997, where they joined First Mennonite Church. Robert is survived by his wife of 64 years, Alice Ruth, and their four children, Mark (Norma Wyse) of Lexington, Mass., Joy (John) Betts of Bryan, Ohio, Sue Ramseyer Konicek of Bloomington, Ind., and Jeanne (Thomas) Stenson of Quakertown, Pa.
Surviving grandchildren are Jennifer and Geoffrey Ramseyer, Rachel Betts (Nikhil Krishnan), Sarah (Charles) vonSeggern, and Jacob Betts, Timothy, Elizabeth, and Matthew Konicek, and Brian (Jennifer), Kristin, and Randall Stenson.
He is also survived by a sister, Mary (Robert) Wells of Cincinnati, Ohio, and brother, William (Mary) Ramseyer of St. Helena, S.C. He was preceded in death by a grandson, David Betts, a son-in-law, Robert Konicek, and by his parents, Lloyd and Ferne Ramseyer.
Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, May 5, at the Chiles-Laman Funeral and Cremation Services, Bluffton, and from 10-10:45 a.m. Friday, May 6, at First Mennonite Church. A funeral service is Friday, May 6, at 11 a.m., at First Mennonite. Burial is at Maple Grove Cemetery, Bluffton.
In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to the Bluffton University Lloyd and Ferne Ramseyer Scholarship Fund or to the Mennonite Mission Network. Online condolences may be expressed at www.chiles-lamanfh.com.
