Ruth Ann (Cone) Theobald Home with the Lord
March 2020
At the age of 90, Ruth Ann Theobald went to be with her Savior on Thursday, March 5, 2020, in her home in Winona Lake, IN.
While attending Bryan College, she met her first husband, George E. Cone. For 22 years, George and Ruth Ann served the Lord as missionaries in the Central African Republic with the international missions agency of the Grace Brethren Church.
In 1973, George died of cancer. He was a Greek teacher at Grace College and Seminary. On her own, Ruth Ann raised their five children while holding positions at Lakeland Christian Academy and Grace College, where she taught French and English.
From 1979 to 1981, Ruth Ann and her two youngest children lived in Germany, where she served as a teacher at the Black Forest Academy in Kandern.
After her youngest child graduated from high school in the U.S., Ruth Ann returned to Europe, where she served with the Grace Brethren Church in Lyon, France, for ten years.
On January 7, 1995, Ruth Ann married Sterling Theobald of St. Louis, MO. Over their 25 years of marriage, Ruth Ann and Sterling enjoyed many adventures together, hiking and traveling, singing and praying. Ruth Ann was passionate about sharing the gospel with the nations, and her family is grateful to know that she is now seeing her Savior face to face.
Ruth Ann’s life will be celebrated with a service at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, March 11, 2020, at Winona Lake (IN) Grace Brethren Church, officiated by Pastor Bruce Barlow and her son, Pastor Kip Cone. Burial will follow with a graveside service at Oakwood Cemetery of Warsaw, IN.
Memorial donations may be designated to Encompass World Partners, PO Box 3298, Monument, CO 80132-3298; or to Grace College, 200 Seminary Drive, Winona Lake, Indiana 46590, and would be appreciated by the family.
For more information, read the full article at GraceConnect.us.
More Stories
When Anna* was challenged to think about her goals for 2026, she sensed a clear nudge from God: begin preparing material to train others....
February 17, 2026
“In the 1980s, if you walked into a Christian bookstore in France, you’d find maybe two shelves of Christian books,” Florent...
February 13, 2026
As someone who’s spent much of his life planting churches in Asia, Ted now serves as the Director of Encompass...
February 10, 2026
Reaching the unreached is a beautiful idea, but it’s a lot easier said than done. Even so, Auburn Grace Community...
February 9, 2026
“I had no idea what Japan was,” Kya says. “Then my parents took me when I was 10, and now I wake up every day and think about...
January 30, 2026
Mika* grew up in Japan as part of a family that was culturally Buddhist, yet God gently placed people in her life who...
January 29, 2026
Grace Church in Simi Valley, California has been partnering with Encompass for over 60 years now, making us their primary missions agency. That...
January 23, 2026
The environment a child grows up in becomes their baseline for what’s normal. As you can imagine, children growing up overseas often form a...
January 23, 2026
“I never set out to become a crisis response person,” says Barb. In fact, if you had asked her younger...
January 21, 2026
