Neva Ellen Faber, 96, of Perry died Saturday, July 27, 2024, at the King’s Garden Campus of the Perry Lutheran Homes in Perry, Iowa.
Visitation will be from Monday, Aug. 12 from 10-11 a.m. at Caldwell Parrish Funeral Home-Perry Chapel at 1721 Park St. in Perry. Funeral services will follow at 11 a.m. Burial will be in the Elmwood Cemetery in Minburn, Iowa.
Neva was born April 24, 1928, in Clay Center, Nebraska, the daughter of Charles and Della (Hoyt) Fate.
She graduated from Clay Center High School in Clay Center in 1945. Two years later, in 1947, she enrolled in the Bachelor of Sacred Literature Program at the Cincinnati Bible Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio. She earned excellent grades and served as a teacher’s assistant for one of the institution’s most prominent professors from 1949 until she graduated as valedictorian in 1951.
Immediately upon graduating, Neva was hired by Standard Publishing Co. as an assistant editor of the Christian Home Life magazine.
It was at the Cincinnati Bible Seminary where she met Ernest Faber, and they were married on June 13, 1952, in Cincinnati.
In 1954 they left Cincinnati to travel to Japan in order to serve as missionaries. They moved to the northern island of Hokkaido and planted three churches. Over the years, they offered their support and encouragement to many young missionary families who arrived in Japan.
Neva enjoyed hosting guests in her home and liked to invite Japanese ladies into her kitchen to learn how to cook western dishes.
When Neva and Ernie retired from the mission field in 1999, they moved to the Faber family farm just outside of Minburn. They became very involved at the Washington Chapel Church of Christ, where Neva delighted in teaching Bible lessons to children.
Education was always important to Neva, and teaching in various environments played a very important role throughout her life. As soon as her children reached school age, she devoted herself to home-schooling them through their elementary school years so that they could study and learn in English. This required the development of her own curriculum since home-schooling resources would not become widely available for another several decades.
During the few furlough years when she was in America, she enrolled in courses at various universities in order to hone her teaching skills. She eventually earned a master of science in educational administration from Fort Hays State University in 1982.
In Japan Neva taught in many different settings. She and Ernie established and operated an English language school for 26 years. She ran Summer ESL camps each summer for 13 years. She also taught conversational English at the Sapporo Academy of Music, the Asahi Culture Center and Hokko Junior High.
After retiring from the mission field and returning to the U.S., she pursued her teacher’s license, and at the age of 72 she received her Master Educator License to serve as a K-6 elementary teacher or a K-12 English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher.
For several years she provided ESL instruction for the Woodward-Granger School District and the Perry Community District as well as working as a substitute teacher for the Perry Elementary School. For a while, she also regularly drove to a church in Des Moines to teach English to recent immigrants.
Even when she “relaxed,” Neva gravitated toward games that challenged her mind. She enjoyed Sudoku, but throughout her life Scrabble was her game of choice, and it was never surprising when she racked up a 70-point score by dropping a tile or two into the middle of a tangle of words on the board.
Survivors include three of her children, Linda Svoboda, Charles (Patricia) Faber and Allan (Debbie) Faber; her daughter-in-law, Pam Faber; 13 grandchildren, Kevin (Elizabeth) Worcester, Jason Worcester, Melissa (Matthew) Sleasman, Ryan (Alison) Faber, Mary (Roy) Senters, Margaret Walters, Phyllis (Chris) Burns, Jared Faber, Josiah (Linda) Faber, Nathan (Christy) Faber, Leah (Vincent) Forgo, Aaron Faber and Lydia Faber; and many great-grandchildren; nieces; and nephews.
She is preceded in death by her parents, Charles and Della Fate; her husband, Ernie Faber; her son, Donald Faber; her son-in-law, Jerry Svoboda; her brothers and sisters, Cleo Flessner, Merton Fate, Clayton Fate, Harold Fate, Clevia Barton, Ward Fate, Phyllis Gavin, Edward Fate and Arthur Fate; and two great-grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, please direct memorial contributions to the Central Iowa Bible Camp, 18578 335th Lane, Earlham, IA 50072. To express condolences, please visit www.caldwellparrish.com.
