FENTON 50th

Loren and Ruth (Christensen) Fenton celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with family and friends on Aug. 6, 2017, at the Milton Church, in Milton-Freewater, Ore.

Loren and Ruth began dating in the spring of 1966 at Walla Walla College when he was a junior theology major and she was a senior nursing student. They were married June 8, 1967, in the Laurelwood (Ore.) Academy Church. Ruth’s grandfather, Jens Christensen, was honored to escort his granddaughter down the aisle in the church he had built a few years earlier.

After graduation, Loren began his ministry as associate pastor of the Mount Tabor Church in Portland, Ore. Ruth acquired a job in the ICU at the old Portland Adventist Hospital across the street from the church on SE 60th Ave. After one year of ministerial internship, Oregon Conference sponsored Loren as a Master of Divinity student at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Mich. He completed the master’s degree requirements in September 1970, and the couple returned to Oregon, where Loren was assigned to the Eugene Church as associate pastor.

The Fentons' tenure in Eugene lasted for only about seven months. The General Conference invited Loren and Ruth to join several other young couples in the Far East to learn Mandarin Chinese. They accepted the call, and in May 1971 they moved with their 10-month-old son, Benjamin, to the island of Taiwan and began language training. In all, Loren and Ruth served six years as missionaries in Taiwan, where they were also blessed by the arrival of a daughter, Kimberly, in 1974.

After returning to the homeland the Fentons served in evangelism and pastoral ministry in Upper Columbia Conference (12 years), Ohio Conference (11.5 years), and Oregon Conference (7.5 years). Ruth also continued her nursing career, with a focus on pediatric home care, working with several nursing agencies following the family’s several moves.

Loren and Ruth retired in 2011, both having accumulated 40 years of service in their respective fields. In August 2015, the Fentons moved to College Place, Wash., where they now reside.

The 50th anniversary celebration at Milton Church was organized by Loren and Ruth’s daughter, Kimberly Holback of Howell, Mich., and their daughter-in-law, Lita Fenton of College Place. More than 100 guests packed the Milton Church fellowship hall for the renewal of vows officiated by Lloyd Perrin, pastor. Granddaughters Morgan and Gabi Holback and Ruth’s uncle, Victor Merth, provided special music during the service. Refreshments included banana bread cupcakes, cookies and individual cups of fruit salad.

Among the guests were Loren’s sisters, Katty Joy French and Beulah Fern Stevens; son and daughter-in-law, Benjamin and Lita Fenton, with their children, Peter and Allison; daughter and son-in-law, Kimberly and Tom Holback, and their children, Grantsen, Morgan and Gabrielle; plus numerous friends and relatives from the wider circles of extended family.