Comments on: The deep roots behind a new scholarship for international students at 91��Ƶ

By: Robert Martin

Robert Martin — Wed, 08 Aug 2018 16:05:17 +0000

From 1968 to 1971 while I was a resident at George Washington University Hospital, Dr Ivan Magal was on the faculty and became a role model for me as a young physician. We also worshipped together at the Hyattsville Mennonite Church. He showed me by his example what it means to hold together the spiritual and the physical aspects of healing the whole person. How fitting that his and Leah’s legacy will continue to bless future student s!

By: LornaBeth Shantz

LornaBeth Shantz — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 23:14:46 +0000

It would be virtually impossible to relate the impact Ivan’s friendship had on my father’s life. By extension we kids received a different worldview than we might have otherwise. Thank you for this beautiful tribute. It seems entirely right that a memorial endowment be made in Ivan’s and Leah’s names.

By: Dorothy Jean Weaver

Dorothy Jean Weaver — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:18:13 +0000

I too, like my sister, Kathie Kurtz (above), have warm memories of Ivan and Leah Magal and their family that go back to the early 1950’s. As a granddaughter of C. K. and Myra Lehman, I simply “inherited” the Magals as “adopted” relatives within the Lehman family. And years later, I came to realize that Ivan himself had, entirely without his awareness, connected me with my ongoing search for my own father, someone whom I had never known. While I never had this conversation with Ivan in person, I did send him a letter thanking him for playing this role in my life. I recall attending his memorial service in Washington D.C. in 1984. And when Leah died and her children came back to Harrisonburg to lay their mother to rest alongside their father at the Mt. Clinton Mennonite cemetery, I was privileged to participate in her memorial service. What a beautiful legacy these two people have left through their lives. Thanks to the Magal family for honoring their parents with this named endowment that will bring international students to 91��Ƶ for years to come.

By: Jay B. Landis

Jay B. Landis — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 17:50:09 +0000

What an amazing account of the Magal family, beginning in the late 40’s at EMS. As a very young student in 1950 I quickly learned about Ivan Magal, EMC’s first international student and his outstanding reputation in study and service to the church. Later through some association with members of the Kennel family, I was continually interested in the ministry that the Magals were carrying on in the United States and in his home country. Several decades later in the early 70’s, I personally met their daughter Phyllis, who was an EMC student in a class I was associated with. I certainly don’t expect that Phyllis would remember that class, but it was a connection with Ivan and Leah Magal’s family that I remember with pleasure.

By: Kathie Kurtz

Kathie Kurtz — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 13:40:26 +0000