Obituary of Clara M. Rice

Clara M. (Sparks) Rice, age 92, passed away April 6, 2017 in Fort Myers. Born June 30, 1924, in Big Cabin OK, Clara Sparks was the 8th child born to Benjamin F. and Rebecca Caroline (Ketchum) Sparks. At the age of 8 years, her mother led her to the Lord. Clara taught her first Sunday school class when she was in the eighth grade and felt the call to missionary work at the age of sixteen. After coming in contact with the Free Methodist Church in 1945, she joined the First Free Methodist Church in Portland, Oregon, that same year. Clara earned a BA at Cascade College and her nursing education at Emanuel Hospital School of Nursing where she earned an RN designation, both in Portland, Oregon. In addition, she earned a degree in midwifery from Frontier Nursing Service School of Midwifery. In 1954, Clara was appointed to what was then Ruanda/Urundi. After a year of study in Belgium both in the French language and a course in Tropical Medicine and Diseases at Prince Leopold University in Antwerp, Clara arrived in Urundi. For approximately ten years, she served as a missionary nurse/midwife in the rural areas of both Urundi and Ruanda, the "two most under-doctored" countries of the world at that time. She was first appointed to Burundi's Kibuye Hospital in 1955. With her coming, the hospital was able to increase in-patient, infant and prenatal services. Describing her arrival, Clara said, "What a happy day when I set foot on Urundi soil and the realization swept over me that I was really in the land to which God had called me …" Later dividing her time between two medical clinics, 20 miles apart, she sometimes found it necessary to perform complicated medical procedures in the absence of a doctor. Clara also served as assistant supervisor for the primary school at Muyebe (Burundi) to help relieve the shortage of teachers there. In addition, she worked with women, youth and children, assisted in producing religious radio broadcasts, and spent part of her time in literature work. While on furlough in 1965, she met Paul Rice, a widower with two children, who had served for many years as a pastor in the Ohio Conference. Paul and Clara were married in 1966, and Clara became not only a pastor's wife, but instant mother of Dale and Joy. She soon learned to love the children as her own. In 1967, they moved to Winona Lake, Indiana where both Paul & Clara worked at the Free Methodist Headquarters until responding to the urgent need for additional missionary personnel in Burundi in January 1974. In Burundi, Clara was assigned back at Kibuye Hospital, which was without a doctor. She found herself diagnosing and prescribing treatment not only for African patients but also for fellow missionaries. Her missionary experience, nursing skills and facility with the French and Kirundi languages made her a valuable part of the medical program. Husband Paul served as evangelist and taught TEE courses, as well as serving in maintenance. When medical reinforcements arrived two years later, she and Paul transferred to a district that had not had direct missionary help for years. There she saw patients in an outpatient clinic, seeing as many as 100 patients a day, plus baby clinics which would have 150 - 200 babies to be weighed and treated. Upon returning from Burundi in 1977, Clara worked in the Missions office as Executive Assistant and Secretary plus other duties. After helping to prepare the Mission Board for the move from Winona Lake to Indianapolis, Clara and Paul retired to Florida in 1990. Paul went to be with the Lord in 1999, and Clara moved to Bradenton Missionary Village in Bradenton, FL. She was soon actively serving the Lord as a nurse in the Village Care Center, plus preparing the Prayer Guide for the Friday morning prayer breakfast, and also serving in several capacities at the Orange Grove Free Methodist Church in Bradenton. In 2013, when it became increasingly difficult to maintain an apartment on her own, the Lord opened the door for her to move into an Assisted Living Facility at Shell Point Retirement Community in Fort Myers, FL, where she continued to remain active in many ways, and most recently served as the President of the Shell Point Residents' Council until just weeks before her death. Clara is survived by son Dale (Mary Ann) and daughter Joy Yankovich (Michael), 3 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren, brothers Wayne Sparks of Gladstone, Oregon and Bill Sparks of Seattle Washington, and a host of nieces, nephews and cousins. Memorial Services will be held: April 20, 2017 at 10 am at Il Villaggio (Previously known as Bradenton Missionary Village) in the Rossi Center in Bradenton FL April 21, 2017 at 1:15 pm at the Village Church in Shell Point Retirement Community, Fort Myers FL. A graveside service will held at a later time in Warsaw, Indiana. In lieu of flowers the family asks that any remembrances for Clara be made with a donation in her memory to the Ministers and Missionary Fund at Shell Point. Address: Shell Point Retirement Community Ministers and Missionary Fund C/O The Legacy Foundation 15010 Shell Point Blvd Fort Myers FL 33908 Cremation arrangements by Akin-Davis Funeral Home - Fort Myers.