Biographical Sketch

ni3
The first few ye^rs

Wally L. Farnham was born December 25, 1927 in Ray, North Dakota.

of his life were rather hectic until he was finally left with the Farnham family in :

Oxford, Nebraska. His parents were divorced and his father was unable to care for an infant son during the hard years of the depression. Wally was later adopfedd by this
Nebraska . From here he graduated from High School in 1945.

farming family. His foster father passed away in 1938. The family moved to Beaver City
When 12 years of age he was immersed into Christ by Kenneth Beckman, minister pf
the Christian Church in Beaver City.

Upon graduation from High School he joined the UjS; Maritime service iifeere he
served for one year. He then joined the Air Force where he served for 2 years. Upon his discharge he met Joy Spry in Anita? Iowa while visiting his Aunt. They were married in 1948 in Omaha, Nebraska, by the minister of First Christian Church. They

have four children, Timothy of the U.S. Marine Corp., Joshua, a freshman in high school,
Sarah, age 11, and, Rachel, age 9.

In 1954 the Farnhams enrolled in Johnson Bible College

where they attended for

2 years transferring to Lincoln Bible Institute for his Junior and Senior years.
awarded his BA with the class of 1958.
Somerset, Ky

He was

He had student ministries in San Jose, Illinois;

His full-time ministries included Sutherland, Iowa; Lewis, Iowa; and Oakley, Kansas.

In the Spring of 1967 after a visit by Stuart Cook of South Africa, a joint decision
by various members of the church in Oakley and the Farnhams
1968.

was^

made to travel to the Republic of South Africa to work with the European Evangelism just commencing inn the "Gold" Reef. They arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa in February,
One of the high lights of his work for the Master was the invifeation received from Johnson Bible College to teach missions for the Spring semester of 1972 while the Farnhams were home on furlough. This was a wonderful opportunity to share with the students and "Homecoming" old friends his deep concern for the white people of Southern Africa. Historical evangelism in Southern Africa had almost completely overlooked
this all-important population group.

In the Spring of 1971 in company with Thomas P. Jones, who was also working in
South Africa, Wally was privileged to make a trip into the country of Malawi. There
the initial work of the Christian Church in that country was put into operation under the

capable leadership of Chief Makhole who had been taught by the missionaries in South Africa, and had returned to his native country with a burning desire to preach the gospel. Through this effort the country of Malawi is now open with many hundreds of Christians
iftfcftin the southern area of Mlangi. Soon a missionary family will be entering this country on a full-time basis. This family was recruited by the Farnhams on their recent
furlough.

The Farnhams live in the City of Benoni on the East Rand, about 25 miles from

32gg2g2%Johannesburg.

From this vantage point thye have been instrumental in starting

the works in Carltonville,&Tulisa Park, as well as the growing work in Benoni.

Upon their return from the USA in 1972 (September) Tehy again took up the reind
of the work in Benoni. During their furlough Wally had major heart surgery for the

replacement of vital arteries into his heart.

His speedy recovery only increased his

determination to return to the land that had captured his heart+ A year after their return he was again laid low with a critical heart infarction. Again the Lord answered the millions of prayers from Christians all over the world and 2 months later he was
preaching the Word.