Marilyn Lois Hunter

Marilyn Lois Hunter, 87, born on February 9, 1933, in Hawley, MN, United States, passed away peacefully on February 2, 2021. She resided in Cathedral City, CA at the time of her passing.

She is much loved as a wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and as a great-great-grandmother. She was preceded in death by her husband of 60 years (Lyle Hunter died in 2014, also in Cathedral City, CA). She is survived by two brothers and a sister, as well as four children: Timothy Hunter, Terry Hunter, Joan Hunter Krayer, and Joy Hunter Wegner. She is also survived by 12 grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild growing up in Canada (whom she never saw because of pandemic restrictions) plus one more great-grand soon to be born!

Marilyn grew up on a farm near Bottineau, North Dakota, as the daughter of Oscar and Clara Sjule. She also had two brothers and two sisters. The Sjule home was one where Jesus Christ was loved and honored. Quite soon, she sensed a calling from our creator God to help those in other countries that need to know who He is. To this end, she took nurses training to be of service to those who need such care. Then she attended a Bible college in Fergus Falls, MN. There she met Lyle Hunter attending seminary at Church of the Lutheran Brethren, and who intended to be a missionary --which made her decide he was the right one! They married in 1954, at Inhered Lutheran, a little country church just north of the Sjule farm in North Dakota.

After Lyle finished seminary, they were assigned to minister in Cameroon, Africa. They left for France in 1960 to learn French since Cameroon is a French-speaking country. By then they had three small children and they all arrived in Cameroon in 1961. They served as missionaries to Cameroon and Chad until 1989, living in such places as Mogodé, Kaelé, Garoua, and Yaoundé (Cameroon) and Gounou Gaya (Chad). Their youngest daughter, Joy, was born in Cameroon.

Marilyn used her nursing skills to minister to many people with medical needs living around the Hunter household. Especially when they first arrived, the closest medical facility to where they lived in Mogodé was at least 15 miles away, and it took over an hour to get there on poorly maintained gravel roads. There was no electricity and no telephone. Plumbing was nonexistent. So the farm girl from North Dakota got REALLY popular with the local people when they found out she could fix wounds. And she had these magical things called pills one could swallow to cure malaria and other diseases! Marilyn served many people...

So Marilyn raised four children under fairly primitive conditions. There were no English language schools either, so she home-schooled them, too, until it was time for high-school. Then she said "Enough!" and sent them off to boarding school at Hillcrest School in Nigeria (with US-based curriculum.) That way her children got even more international experience.

As missionaries, Marilyn and Lyle were very aware that one other huge lack in that part of the world is the Bible in the local language. So, as if they didn't have enough to do(!) with Lyle planting churches, teaching seminary, and educating church leaders in Cameroon and Chad, Marilyn learned the local language, Kapsiki (or Psekye), created a writing system, and began translating the New Testament into that language. Marilyn and Lyle had attended the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) in North Dakota before going to France and Cameroon, so they were equipped for the task.

With Lyle serving as exegete, and Marilyn's knowledge of Kapsiki, they trained local Lutheran Brethren church leaders, as well as other Christians, to translate scripture in that language. The New Testament was published in 1988. Perhaps just as importantly, the men they trained went on to translate the Old Testament, finishing it some years later, meaning the entire Bible is now available in the Kapsiki (Psekye) language. So it's not too much to say that Marilyn and Lyle left a permanent legacy in that part of Africa.

In 1989, they retired to live in North Carolina, continuing to serve world-wide Bible translation on a part-time basis at the JAARS Center in Waxhaw. Later they moved back to North Dakota, where they originally began married life. There they served for some years in visitation ministry at Grace Lutheran Brethren Church in Bottineau. Finally, they ended up in California, cared for by daughter Joy, and enjoying being with her, as well as the presence of grandson Hunter Wegner.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Forest Lawn, Cathedral City, California. Interment will take place on February 22, 2021.