Annie Clemmer Funk
| Annie Clemmer Funk | |
|---|---|
| Born |
12 April 1874 Bally, Pennsylvania |
| Died |
15 April 1912 (aged 38) Atlantic Ocean - RMS Titanic |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Missionary |
Annie Clemmer Funk (12 April 1874 – 15 April 1912) was an American Christian missionary and one of the 1500 people who perished in the sinking of the RMS Titanic. Since 1906, she had been a missionary in the Janjgir-Champa district in Chhattisgarh, India. She was on her way to visit her ailing mother.
Annie Funk was born on 12 April 1874 in the small town of Bally, Pennsylvania. Her ancestors, who settled there in 1700s, were Mennonite emigrants from Germany. Miss Funk attended the State Normal School at West Chester.
Her home congregation, the Hereford General Conference Mennonite Church, where her father was a deacon for 25 years, nurtured her interest in missions from childhood. She attended the Northfield Bible Training School in Northfield, Massachusetts that D. L. Moody had begun. After graduation, she worked with the immigrants in the slums of Chattanooga, Tennessee and Paterson, New Jersey. She dreamt of being a missionary.
After the stateside assignments, she volunteered to go overseas. She had unqualified trust in God. Once she stated to a friend who feared for her safety on the first transatlantic voyage that, "Our heavenly Father is as near to us on sea as on land. My trust is in Him. I have no fear.” Thus, her dream of being a missionary was realized in December 1906, when she was sent to India as the first female Mennonite missionary.
Annie arrived in India and served in Janjgir-Champa district, in Chhattisgarh. In 1908, she opened a one-room school and hostel for poor girls. The school initially taught 17 students. She also learnt Hindi during her stay. The school was later renamed the Annie C Funk Memorial School. Only the outer walls survive today, with a small plaque which describes her brief life and her death.
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