Ragnar Evald Udd

Ragnar Evald Udd, born May 17, 1910 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, passed away Monday morning, June 7th, 2004, at Huntington Place in Rockledge, Florida. Ragnar grew up in South Bend, Washington, the second of six children. His father, a tallyman lumber inspector for the mill, and his mother were both very active in Christian leadership in the Swedish Baptist Church. While he was working in the mill with his father in 1934, he heard the call to the mission field, specifically to Africa, and left to attend Glad Tidings Bible Institute in San Francisco, California. After completing his theological training, he began pioneering churches in Glens Ferry, Idaho. In 1936, when he returned to Washington from Idaho, Alice was a featured speaker at the church in Raymond, invited by George Nye, Ragnar?s brother-in-law, because Alice also had a call to missions in Africa. Ragnar and Alice were married on March 25, 1937, and pastored the Assembly of God church in Yelm, Washington for almost three years, during which time in 1938 their first son Rodney was born.On October 14, 1939, Ragnar and Alice left America on the Exeter II for Andudu Mission Station near Gombari, Belgian Congo now Zaire, Africa, to begin their missions work, and in 1940 their daughter Jewel was born. After Alice contracted black water fever in 1941 and recovered by the prayers of the saints, no medicine being available, the doctor ordered them to a better climate Andudu being in a rainforest, and they moved to Igali Mission Station near Mbeya, Tanganyika now Tanzania. In 1943 they moved across the border into the Misuku Hills, in Nyasaland now Malawi, where they established the Mubula Mission Station on a former coffee plantation. In 1946, they managed transportation back to America on a troop ship right after WWII, and Tim was born in New York City two weeks after their arrival. They returned in 1948 to Mubula, and there they stayed until 1959, when their mission station was burned to the ground in a political revolt. When the children finished school later that year, they left for furlow in America. In 1961 they returned to Mbeya and continued their work in that region, with a brief stay in northern Malawi to start a new mission station near Chisenga. By the late ?70?s they had moved to Punguruma, Tanzania, about 10 miles north of Mbeya, still in the southern Tanzania highlands so close to their hearts. In spring of 1992, Ragnar and Alice retired from the mission field to Seattle, Washington. There they attended Philadelphia Church and reconnected with friends and family. Ragnar was predeceased by his wife Alice d 1999, his older brother Gunnar Bernhard Udd called "GB" d ', his two younger sisters Edna Aurora Udd Nye d 2004 and Amelia Gertrude Udd Baer d 1997, and his younger brother Enoch Udd d '. In 2000, Ragnar moved to Florida to be near his daughter Jewel and her husband. Ragnar is survived by his youngest brother Magnus Emanuel Udd and wife Hazel Hogland Udd; his children, Rodney and wife Carol, Jewel Buhtz and husband Dennis, and Timothy and wife Gwenyth; his grandchildren Tammy, Greg, Alan, Graeme, Christopher; and his great-grandchildren Bradley and Joshua. Ragnar's life and ministry will be celebrated at Evergreen-Washelli Cemetery and Funeral Home in Seattle, Washington, on Sunday, June 13, 2004, with a graveside service at 3:00 PM and a memorial service at 4:00 PM. He will be laid to rest beside his wife of 62 years.