Marvin Eld – Serving His Savior in Southeastern Idaho

 

Marvin Eld collected crosses that he could wear around his neck.  He wore one almost every day for many years, for two reasons – to remind himself of the price paid for his redemption, and to start conversations about the empty cross.  And Marvin’s life exemplified the cross of Jesus.

Marvin and his wife Sharon grew up in Minnesota and both were raised in Christian homes.  One day when he was 14, his mother took him to the doctor, who diagnosed him as having rheumatic fever.  His heart was severely damaged, and the doctor told his mother that her son would be dead in 3 days, 5 at the most.  At the prompting of his grandfather, elders of their church came over to his house and prayed over Marvin.  The next day he went back to the doctor with his mother, in good health.  He went on to live another 70 years.

Marvin placed his faith in Christ at a Billy Graham Youth for Christ meeting.  Following high school he pursued learning more about His Savior, attending Concordia College in St. Paul.  But a growing relationship with a young lady, Sharon Nystrom, brought him to Idaho Falls.  In 1956, Sharon’s father took a job with Idaho National Laboratory contractor Westinghouse, so with her family she moved to Idaho Falls.[1]  The following January, Marvin and Sharon were married at Trinity Methodist Church.[2]  Marvin’s parents came to the wedding of course, and were so impressed with Idaho Falls that they decided to move here and did a few months later, his father taking a job as a machinist at Argonne West. [3]

In the first half of his career, Marvin worked for several INL contractors, while being actively involved at Trinity United Methodist Church, helping with their youth program, Sunday school classes, retreats and acting as a lay preacher on several occasions.[4]

One day in late 1969 tragedy struck the Eld family when their four-and-a-half year old son Richard was struck and killed by a car in the street in front of their home.[5]  This event deeply affected Marvin. Walking into Trinity United Methodist Church for his son’s funeral, his body froze, he was unable to move, and he felt like there was a hole in his heart.  With the Lord’s help he recovered and got through the funeral, but the loss of his son forced him to lean on God’s Son every minute of every day and seek strength for the next step.  It took years for him to let the Lord fill that hole in his heart.  But it was replaced with greater compassion for others who were suffering.  When he would hear of someone else who had lost a son, he and his wife would call them to arrange a visit to grieve with them.  In 1970 & 1971 Marvin served as a pallbearer at funerals of two other boys who were killed in traffic accidents.[6] 

Then throughout the rest of his life, when he would be in a parking lot and notice someone, if he sensed they were in pain, he would approach them, hand them a $10 bill with a sticker that said “Jesus cares,” and engage them in conversation.  One Sunday when a man whose breath smelled of alcohol walked into a service at Trinity United Methodist Church, the ushers led him out, but Marvin followed and found out that the man had just learned that his son had died in Vietnam.  Marvin listened to him, wept and prayed with him, took him out to get a meal, and then delivered him safely to his home, leaving his contact information with him.

In 1970-71 Marvin and Mr. Wil Mudge were in charge of a multi-phase evangelism effort called “Operation Concern,” which sought to confront non-Christians and the unchurched with the gospel.[7]  That led to a small group ministry in the Eld’s home which was “open to everyone who honestly wants to improve the depth of his Christian experience.”[8]  Marvin’s leadership of study groups continued, forming five groups in 1973 as part of the “New Life Mission” emphasis of the Methodist Church that year.[9]

In January 1976 Marvin Eld became chairman of the Regional Council for Christian Ministry, which at the time had seven Idaho Falls and one Blackfoot member churches.[4]  While the Elds had been members of Trinity Methodist Church since moving to Idaho Falls, his background included involvement with Youth for Christ, Baptist and Assembly of God churches as well as his year of study at Concordia, a Lutheran Seminary.[4]  At that time the Regional Council for Christian Ministry operated the only licensed day care facility in Idaho Falls, was in charge of the ministry in Island Park at the Chapel in the Pines, operated a hostel in the Presbyterian Church for overnight accommodations for travelers during summer months, and organized several annual community worship services.[4]

Early in the morning on June 5, 1976, seepage was discovered through the newly constructed Teton Dam, and starting at 11:57 am 80 billion gallons or water came crashing through the earthen dam, unleashing a flood that caused damage along an 80-mile stretch of the Teton and Snake Rivers.  Three days later the Regional Council for Christian Ministry met with the Idaho Falls Ministerial Association and formed the Teton Interfaith Disaster Relief Committee[10] (soon known as the Teton Interfaith Disaster Task Force, sometimes abbreviated to just “Teton Interfaith” or “Interfaith Task Force”). By June 13 the Task Force had organized convoys of volunteers from Idaho Falls churches to help with cleanup, leaving from the Idaho Falls High School parking lot.[11] On June 17, the Task Force selected a 12-member executive board to coordinate and expedite meeting needs in the disaster areas with resources from the community, state and nation.[12]  Marvin Eld was chosen as director of the Task Force, and his employer, Aerojet Nuclear Corporation, initially gave him paid leave so that he could devote his full time to the effort.[13] 

A report issued in September, 1976 stated, “We, the Interfaith Task Force, are the physical touch of Jesus Christ to those in need: offering time, acts and personal involvement with people whose lives are in chaos and whose foundations and past have been washed away.”[13] That coordination effort was huge. By May of 1977, the Task Force had coordinated over a million man-hours of effort.  The Task Force included some 200 full-time local “Advocates,” who, following training, visited people affected by the flood to determine their needs and then get them appropriate help.[13] 

“For most of the advocates, this was a spiritual commitment, and advocate-training sessions were always suffused with prayer…If you asked an advocate today what a flood is, you’d find that only partially is it death and destruction and thick, stinking mud. A flood, it seems, is also old people in a state of bewilderment, and children waking up in the night afraid that the waters are sweeping down again.  It’s people who once barely eked out a living on marginal incomes, now throwing up their hands in desperation.  It’s a rising divorce rate.  It’s the tensions in a family of eight living in the sudden confines of a HUD trailer.  It’s an infinitude of forms to be filled out.  A flood is something that goes on long after the soup kitchens have disappeared and the area is no longer officially a disaster area.  The people of Interfaith will long be remembered for their steady determination, for their perseverance.  Again and again, just when it looked as though they should be shutting up shop and getting back to their normal lives, a new problem would arise…”[14]

Volunteers from around the country arrived daily for months to help meet the needs.[13]  Volunteers from the Mennonite Disaster Service were on the scene two days after the dam failed and worked 1,149 man-days.[15]  The Christian Reform World Relief Committee sent 30 volunteers and supplied blankets, baby clothes and other items.[13]  Volunteers did everything from cleaning out mud and pouring concrete to assisting in preparation of tax returns and other governmental forms for compensation of loses to providing day care and recreation activities for kids to manning a suicide hotline which received as many as 15 calls a day. 

By late June, 1977 shortly before the Teton Interfaith Disaster Task Force closed its office, they had received over 15,000 calls for help.[16]  At a closing meeting on June 29, Marvin described some of their recent activities and then concluded, “This is what Teton Interfaith was about from the beginning, to help those who were unable to help themselves without our assistance and to show Christ’s love through the efforts that we could do.  We were privileged to have volunteers from as far away as Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Canada, Washington, California…long term volunteers, some of which spent months helping the victims.  Volunteers were from many denominations – Mennonites, Christian Reformed, Baptist, Methodist, Congregational and on and on…”[17]  One part of the effort continued, the Information and Referral Services, initially operating under the Regional Council for Christian Ministry.[15,18] While the Task Force office officially disbanded after 13 months, Marvin continued coordinating activities and volunteers for another five months.

Marvin was the featured speaker at the “Sunrise Century III” Community Church Service held in the Civic Auditorium the evening of July 3, 1977,[19] urging, “As we begin our third century, we must continue to sacrifice for those who are suffering, whether it be physically, emotionally or spiritually.”[20]

Later that month, Marvin attended a week-long meeting of the Christian Reform World Relief Meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan, advising them on flood relief activities underway following the Appalachian and Johnstown floods.[21]  When he returned home, he began a position with EG&G Idaho as acting Director for the INEL[22] Nuclear Waste Management Program.[23] During that time he worked with Fred Tingey, who soon left the INEL to spearhead the formation and development of University Place.  Fred invited Marvin to join him as Associate Director, which he did for the last 20 years of his career.[23]

After retiring from the University of Idaho, Marvin worked part-time as a Hospice Chaplain, which led to officiating at 272 funerals, sometimes 2 or 3 in a single week.[23] While genuinely sharing in the grief of families, he looked at the funerals as opportunities to also share the gospel of His Savior.  During these years he also volunteered as a chaplain at EIRMC, served on the Salvation Army board, held many positions at Trinity Methodist Church and filled pulpits at various other churches in Idaho Falls. Then from 1996 to 2021 he was most active at Community Church in Shelley and Calvary Chapel in Blackfoot, churches where his son Mike was pastor.  At these he would fill the pulpit when needed and lead Bible study groups.

Marvin passed away in Idaho Falls April 10, 2021.[23]  At his Celebration of Life, Mike Eld spoke about lessons he learned from his father, closing with this:

We marveled about how many times Dad ‘cheated death’.  He miraculously survived rheumatic fever at 14, lived to tell about a major car wreck in 1983, had multiple heart procedures and 19 cardioversions.  In this last year-and-a half alone, he had a valve replacement weeks after a major concussion, all followed up by serious lung surgery.  We often commented how he had 9 lives.  None of us realized he had used 8 of them before this last hospital visit… Thanks be to God in Christ, my dad ‘cheated death’ in the ultimate eternal sense when he placed his faith in the One who has defeated death once for all at Calvary.[24]

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[1] Post Register, March 23, 1997.

[2] Post Register, June 16, 1957, p. 2.

[3] Post Register, October 18, 1971. 

[4] “Eld Heads Regional Council for Christian Ministry,” Post Register, January 16, 1976, p. A-8.

[5] Post Register, November 14, 1969.

[6] Post Register, March 19, 1970 & February 19, 1971.

[7] Post Register, October 30, 1970, p. A-12.

[8] Post Register, January 1, 8 & 15, also April 9 & 23, 1971.

[9] Post Register, March 30, 1973, p. A-8.

[10] “Teton Interfaith Disaster Committee formed by ministerial association,” Post Register, June 9, 1976, p. C-2.

[11] “Interfaith Task Force Schedules Clean Up,” Post Register, June 13, 1976, p. A-3.  The article included the following: ”… People who plan to help should bring their own food and drinking supplies, plus cleaning supplies including detergents, bleaches, disinfectants, ammonia, scouring powder, rubber gloves, strong boot or heavy-soled shoes.  They also should bring buckets, tools, crowbar, hammer, screwdriver etc., hoes, shovels, wheelbarrow, dolly, bushel baskets, sponges and cloth, scrub brushes and scoops, throw-away containers for garbage, and container to carry from house to street, and water hose and wash tubs.”

[12] Post Register, June 18, 1976, p. A-2.

[13] Post Register, September 10, 1976, p. A-8.

[14] Van Varner, “A Time When Heroes Are Born,” Guideposts Magazine, November, 1977.  The 1977 Guideposts Church Award was presented to the Teton Interfaith Disaster Task Force.

[15] Post Register, September 3, 1976, p. A-10; see also the article “When the water hit, denominationalism began floating away,” in an undated Post Register Supplement entitled, “Christians in Action,” likely published in the early spring of 1977.

[16] Post Register, June 28, 1977, p. A-2.

[17] Post Register, July 6, 1977, p. A-10

[18] The Information and Referral Service was initiated by the Aid Association for Lutherans in 1973.  In November 1975 it was integrated into the Department of Health and Welfare, but then in July 1976 the Teton Interfaith Disaster Task Force took it over. See article in the Post Register, August 3, 1977, p. B-1.

[19] Post Register, June 3, 1977, p. A-9.

[20] Post Register, June 5, 1977, p. A-10.

[21] Post Register, July 26, 1977.

[22] Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, now known as the Idaho National Laboratory.

[23] Post Register, April 12, 2021; https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/postregister/name/marvin-eld-obituary?id=32434194

[24] Additional sources include:

            a. Phone conversation with Debbie Gamache, March 5, 2024.

b. “Lessons From A Father,” Eulogy given by Mike Eld at Marvin’s Celebration of Life, posted on Marvin Eld’s Facebook page May 8, 2021.

c. Sermon given by Marvin Eld at Calvary Chapel, Blackfoot, March 11, 2018, accessed via Blackfoot Calvary Chapel’s website.

            d. Conversation with Mike Eld at Calvary Chapel, Blackfoot, March 11, 2024.