News at ABWE
Frances Schlener Arrives Home in Heaven
Frances Schlener met her Savior in eternity on Friday, June 2, 2006. Her life is a story of the transforming love of Jesus Christ and His power to use anyone willing to take up His cross and serve with joyful abandon. She was born to Martin and Mary Read on February 11, 1922, and grew up in Bonners Ferry, Idaho with her older sister Louise.
On a Bonners Ferry sidewalk, she met young Johnnie Schlener. After they both committed their lives to Christ, they were married in 1942. John then went into the WW2 Air Cadet training program and was sent overseas three days after the birth of their first child, John Read. After being wounded in a bombing mission over Germany, John was medically discharged from the Army Air Corps.
Fran and John, along with John’s brother Paul and his wife Jessie, felt a strong call to serve the Lord as missionaries. The four of them moved to Los Angeles to attend the Bible Institute now known as Biola University. After completing their training and some linguistics study, the two families left for Brazil in 1951, under the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism.
In Brazil, the Schleners raised four children, planted churches for both Brazilians and Ticuna Indians, established and taught in schools, ran clinics, and used speedboats, airboats, houseboats, floatplanes, and dugout canoes to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ up and down the Upper Amazon.
God’s work through them has been recognized in National Geographic magazine articles and was the subject of three movies. The book Port of Two Brothers is an abiding monument to God’s grace and the lives of John and Frances Schlener.
In 1969, Fran’s health forced a five-year return to the United States, where she and John served as West Coast representatives for ABWE. In 1974, they returned to Brazil to serve in administrative roles in Sao Paulo.
In 1979, health issues once again forced a return to the United States, where they became the Northwest US representatives for ABWE, working out of their home in Spokane, Washington. In 1982, they formally retired from ABWE with over 30 years of service, and immediately reassumed the same assignment as retiree volunteers.
In more recent years, Fran’s steady presence, support and wisdom served many at Bonners Ferry Community Church. She and John provided hospitality at their Twin Bridges home on the Moyie River.
In 1990, Frances received a tragic diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. Her condition worsened until she finally moved to a nursing facility in Spokane, Washington. Even there, Fran’s faithful character and loving spirit was both “salt and light” to those around her. Within the last few weeks, she brightened up one last time as her beloved Johnnie, husband of 64 years, shared residence with her at the nursing home.
She is survived by her husband John and her sons, John, David, Phillip, and daughter Allene, who rise up and call her blessed.
A memorial service will be held Wednesday June 7, at 10 am at Bonners Ferry Funeral Home.
Bonners Ferry Funeral Home
6485 Harrison
Bonners Ferry, ID 83805
208-267-214