Geneva Ledbetter Hilgeman's Obituary
HILGEMAN, GENEVA LEDBETTER born August 10,1923, in Roane (now Crandall), Texas, to Kirbin Key Ledbetter and D-Ola Jo Grubbs Ledbetter, went to be with the Lord and her beloved husband, George, on March 24, 2014, in her home in Garland, Texas. She was a graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School (Dallas, TX) and attended Moody Bible Institute for 2 years. Before she became a Christian, she was known as a tomboy, prankster and an athlete, playing baseball for both the church and a local brewery at the same time. She gave up baseball, but never stopped being a loveable prankster! She married George and they pastored a church in Michigan for a time, then spent 40 years with him as missionaries in Bolivia and where she dedicated her life to working with women’s ministries there. She taught Guarani women for 5 years till the mission asked them to move to the Spanish-speaking town of Charagua, where she began discipling the women there. Many of the young ladies she tutored in English and discipled in the Christian life are living in many countries, including the USA, and remain faithful to Christ, and many were still keeping in touch with their spiritual mother at the time of her death. She homeschooled her two older sons for as long as she was able, by the time her third son came around she was too exhausted to home school any more, and sent them off at great sacrifice to boarding schools, seeing them for only three months each year. She frequently spoke at women’s conferences and retreats and ministered wherever opportunities presented themselves. Her husband became the Rector (equivalent of Director) of Hebron Theological Seminary in Santa Cruz, training Bolivians to become missionaries, pastors and teachers. She was deeply loved by the women she ministered to. She wrote a book for them, consisting of 4 volumes on “The Ideal Woman”, which was printed in Spanish and French and sold widely in Latin America and Africa. She is survived by her sister, Nancy Philpot, and her three sons, Tom, Richard and Donny, and a young girl, Flora, who grew up in her house and was the only “daughter” she ever had (Flora is now a wife of a missionary), many grandsons, granddaughters, nephews, nieces, great nephews and great nieces, and her “Bolivian family” (those she discipled). Visitation will be 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM, Thursday, March 27, 2014 at Restland Funeral Home. A memorial service will be held at 11:00 AM, Saturday, March 29, 2014 at Scofield Memorial Church, 7730 Abrams Rd., Dallas, TX . In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts can be sent to Avant Ministries, 10,000 N. Oak Trafficway, Kansas City, MO 64155, with a note that says “for Geneva Hilgeman Memorial Fund.” All gifts will be sent to benefit the Women’s Ministries in Bolivia to which she dedicated her life.
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