Death of Ione Markel Richardson

Ione Markel was born in Elizabethville, Pennsylvania, to Gideon and Erlena (Weaver) Markel. Ione died at 95 in College Place, Washington, adored by her family. As a teenager, she converted to the Seventh-day Adventist Church and graduated from Shenandoah Valley Academy, Virginia, in 1948. She taught elementary grades fall, winter and spring, in one-room schools, to earn money to attend summer school at Emmanuel Missionary College in Michigan, where she earned a BSc degree in education in 1957. Ione met Gwynne Richardson from California, attending Potomac University in Maryland, who became the love of her life and ministry partner on May 31, 1959. For 11 years, the Richardsons were Adventist teachers at the elementary-secondary level across the United States. In 1970, they transitioned into pastoring as a couple in 15 congregations over 46 years in the Oregon Conference, where she was also a women’s ministry assistant director and relief chaplain at Adventist Health Portland in the 1980s and 1990s. Ione is survived by her son Paul (Teri) and daughter Kari Olson (Eric) in Walla Walla, Washington, and grandchildren David (California) and Kristen (Australia). Her husband, parents, brother Paul and sister Grace preceded her in death. Her memorial service video can be viewed here.