Esther Krua, 72; student of Bible was driven by faith
Called to a life of ministry, Mahn and Esther Krua went to a Bible institute in Liberia more than 50 years ago. Only men were allowed to be students, though, and since Mrs. Krua could neither read nor write she listened -- committing books of the Bible to memory, word by word.
``We would memorize the lesson and keep it in our hearts until Sunday to go and teach the children at the Sunday school," she later told her son Torli, of Boston, who translated his mother's recollections into English.
Decades after leaving the Bible school, she seemed near death when she left a homeland ravaged by civil war and came to Boston for medical treatment. She lived in Roxbury, with dialysis keeping her alive until April 25 . Mrs. Krua, who was 72 , died at New England Medical Center, where she had gone immediately after landing at Logan Airport in 1992.
``She believed that God brought her to this country for a purpose, and to her, the purpose was to show the love of God to other people," her son said. ``I would say she was driven by her faith and she was kept alive by her faith."
Born in Liberia, in Nimba County, Mrs. Krua was an infant when her mother gave her to the girl's aunt Givon Mawiah , who had no children.
``My mother Givon loved me very dearly," Mrs. Krua told her son referring to her aunt.
Mawiah died at a young age, however, and Mrs. Krua's grandmother took over raising her until she died . Mrs. Krua then went back to her birth mother and grew up in a home where her older brother, Joe Langer, supported the family financially. Inspired by her brother's example, Mrs. Krua converted to Christianity.
Many suitors proposed marriage, and she would tell each, ``I desire to have a Christian home."
She married Mahn Krua in 1950, and they lived in the village of Graie . In 1954 they helped build a Baptist church -- the village's first house of worship -- and he began studying at the Bible institute the next year.
``We were there to support our husbands and cook for them," she said of the role allotted to the wives of students.
Bibles were available in Dan , which is spoken in parts of Ivory Coast , Guinea, and Liberia, so Mrs. Krua taught herself to read and write in that language, with help from her husband.
After her husband graduated, they ran a boarding school in Liberia for many decades, drawing students from a wide geographic area. Their son said they also raised 14 children -- five of whom they adopted after Mahn Krua's brother-in-law, who also was a minister, was poisoned and killed by villagers who opposed Christianity.
At the end of the 1980s when the country was engulfed in a civil war, Mrs. Krua developed a kidney disease. She went to Phebe Hospital in Bong County, but was discharged a couple of months later because there was no access to the dialysis treatment needed to save her life, her son said.
Mrs. Krua went to live in Liberia's Tappita District, expecting to die, but members of her church prayed for her survival.
``When I heard the news, I began to pray to Yahweh to allow me to live because I love my husband, my children, and the church God gave me," she later told her son.
He had previously moved to Boston, and had traveled to the Ivory Coast, which borders Liberia, when he heard his mother was ill. Because of the war, he sent word through intermediaries in Liberia that she should join him. After three months, she was granted a visa on humanitarian grounds to visit the United States for medical treatment, he said.
She flew to Boston and was treated at New England Medical Center, eventually becoming healthy enough to shop at Haymarket and continue her ministry with her husband, who eventually joined her in Boston. Mrs. Krua would raise money to send home to her church in Liberia, and to those of her children who were in refugee camps, her son said.
The Kruas joined the 12th Baptist Church in Roxbury and Mrs. Krua made religious cassette tapes to send to others in the United States and to Liberia. Her son said she received a kidney transplant in 1998, but the new kidney failed several months later and she went back on dialysis.
``She faced great difficulties, but she did not allow those things to limit her life," he said. ``She wanted to live. She loved life."
In addition to her husband, brother, and son Torli, Mrs. Krua leaves 13 children, Martha Ngwayah of Muscatine, Iowa, Michael Mendoabor of Guinea, Darlene , Howard , and Paul Mendoabor of Liberia, Benjamin Krua of Washington, D.C., Torwon , Barseh , Torbor , Mercy , Bessie Krua , Joan Krua-David, and Will Macoley, all of Boston; 32 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.
A funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at 12th Baptist Church. Burial will be in St. Michael Cemetery, Boston. 