Rev. Mark Rudeen, retired veteran missionary and pastor with the Church of the Nazarene, transitioned to eternal life with Jesus on October 26, 2019.  Mark was escorted the last mile of the way into Heaven’s Gates by his three children and loving family.  Although he had been plagued by over forty years of serious heart illness, three open heart surgeries, congestive heart failure, and an aortic aneurysm, in the end it was not his heart that triggered his passing.  Renal failure overtook his already fragile body and closed the door to his earthly life, after numerous and untiring efforts to prolong his living by his beloved physician, Dr. Glen Zuroske.

Mark Antony Rudeen was born on June 9, 1942, in Tacoma, Washington, to parents Rev. C.G. and Edna Rudeen, pioneer missionaries to Nicaragua.  Mark, along with his five siblings, grew up as a third culture kid in Nicaragua, Central America.  As a missionary family, they served right alongside their parents in San Jorge, Rivas, Granada, and Managua, Nicaragua, during the years of 1946 – 1973.

Mark graduated from Connell High School in 1961.  He graduated from Northwest Nazarene College in 1965, soon after he married Evangeline (Vangie) Bolton.  He was Student Body President at NNC from 1964-1965.  Mark earned a Masters of Divinity degree in 1968 at Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri, one day after the birth of their first child, Lee Antony Rudeen.  Following seminary, Mark pastored Ogden, Utah First Church of the Nazarene.  In 1970, Mark and Vangie began their fifteen years as Career Missionaries for the Church of the Nazarene in Mexico City, Mexico, where daughter, Laura Kay Rudeen, was born. The Mark Rudeens continued their missionary service in Peru (1971-1975) where Mark and Vangie served as teachers at the Instituto Bíblico Nazareno, a Bible college for Peruvian pastors; in Panama and the Canal Zone (1975-1980) where Mark served as District Superintendent and where son, Jerald Kent Rudeen, was born; and in Costa Rica (1980-1984) where Mark was Dean of Students and Professor of Theology at the Seminario Nazareno de las Americas.   In 1984, the Connell, Washington Church of the Nazarene (where Mark’s father had pastored in the early 1960’s) called Mark to be their pastor.  While in Connell (1984-1987), son Lee met and later married Anne Coordes.  Other pastoral ministries that followed were Irving, Texas First Church of the Nazarene (1987-1990) and Richland, Washington First Church of the Nazarene (1990-1994).  In 1994, due to health, Mark retired from active ministry and moved back to Connell, Washington with his wife, Vangie, and son, Kent.

Mark never wasted his God given gift of fluency in the Spanish language (his heart language), nor his total identification with the Hispanic culture.  From 1994-2019, he gave dedicated services as a highly esteemed and sought-after Interpreter/Translator for Pasco School District and as a Washington State Court Interpreter for the Benton County Juvenile Justice Court and Benton County Prosser District Court.  Mark was a member of the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators.   He retired as a court interpreter in January 2019.

Mark Rudeen’s life is continued on by his son Lee (Anne) Rudeen of Eltopia, Washington, and their children, Jordan and Katelyn Rudeen, students at Northwest Nazarene University, Nampa, Idaho; his daughter Laura Rudeen of Pasco, Washington; his son Kent Rudeen of Tumwater, Washington; his children’s mother Vangie Ellwein of Connell, Washington; sister Lynnette (Larry) Edgerton of Nampa, Idaho; sister LoAnn (Ed) Dick of Dickinson, North Dakota; brother David (Phyllis) Rudeen of Nampa, Idaho; brother Steven (Elo) Rudeen of San Gabriel, California; sister Danielle Rudeen of Monrovia, California.   Mark entered Heaven where he was welcomed by his parents, Rev. C.G. and Edna Rudeen of Nampa, Idaho.

The family invites you to join them for a bilingual celebration of the legacy, ministry and public service of Mark Antony Rudeen, at the Connell Church of the Nazarene, 500 E. Franklin, Connell, Washington, 1:00 pm, Saturday, November 16, 2019.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Nicaragua Pastors in Medical Crisis Fund, payable to:

Global Treasury Services

Church of the Nazarene

PO Box 843116 Kansas City, MO 64184-3116

(Memo line: Nicaragua Pastors’ Medical Crisis Fund/Rudeen Memorial)