In the fall of 1944, during World War II, Paul Swarr trans- ferred to Eastern Mennonite School for his senior year of high school and said “this was life-changing for me.” From Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Swarr sang in a choir under the direction of J. Mark Stauffer and gained experience singing in a men’s quartet. His 1945 high school class of over 90 members is one of the largest in EMS history.
Two years after graduation, Paul Swarr sailed to Greece on a ship, tending to a load of 600 mules that were being delivered to war-ravished areas after the end of WWII. He worked with the Brethren Service Committee, and deck hands like Paul were known as “seagoing cowboys.”
Soon after they were married in 1955, a Mennonite church leader asked Paul and Bertha to consider a term of service in Israel. They agreed, and spent thirty years as missionaries in Israel, 1957-1987. Paul worked in a variety of ministries in Israel, and helped to raise up an ecumenical community of Messianic believers in the holy land.
Upon returning to the states, Paul Swarr served as pastor of two Mennonite congregations in Virginia, and worked as an overseer in the Virginia Mennonite Conference, 1993-2000. Paul and Bertha Swarr gave their lives in compassionate service to the world.
In February 2016, Paul and Bertha Swarr attended the 14th annual Kennel Charles Anabaptist lecture in the EMS auditorium. After a speech about the twentieth century Mennonite leader Orie O. Miller (1892-1977), Paul Swarr, 88, spoke publicly during the question and answer time about Miller’s 1956 request that he and Bertha serve in Israel, and the way they agreed to become missionaries overseas. Many in the 1945 EMHS class, like Paul Swarr, went on to serve in missions or church related work, in a variety of ways.
During an April 2016 interview at EMS, Paul Swarr counseled the EMS community to “keep Jesus central in your witness.” Paul’s gentle advice is to keep Jesus at the center of our work and allow other ministries to flow from new life in Christ.
