Neva Mae Dubbs

Neva Mae Dubbs, 84, of New Oxford, died Sunday, February 4, 2018 at Cross Keys Village - The Brethren Home Community.

Born on January 19, 1934 in York, she was a daughter of the late Clarence and Helen Hoshour Dubs. In 1944, when Neva was only 10, her mother died and at the age of 13, her father married the late Beatrice Hoffman who encouraged Neva to do well in school. Neva graduated from York High School in 1951 where she was one of 650 students in her class.

At the age of 8, Neva became a Christian and as a teenager, she experienced a call to Christian service and decided to become a medical missionary. From 1952 to 1954, she attended the York Hospital School of Nursing and later attended the Moody Bible Institute from 1955 to 1957. Neva became a missionary nurse with Serving in Mission (SIM) in Ethiopia, working at rural medical stations where she was the only medical person sometimes treating 15 to 30 people a day who were suffering from malaria, dysentery, hepatitis, lice, fleas, parasites, pneumonia, yellow fever, small pox, rabies, typhoid fever, animal bites and Mossy Foot Disease (a form of elephantiasis. In addition, she did a lot of inoculations whereas an entire village would be wiped out by one contagious disease. She served for ten and a half years and over those 3,832 days, she treated thousands of patients. The 13 SIM stations were open from the 1960’s to 1974. In 1974, the Communists took over Ethiopia and the mission stations and hospitals were closed. All of this information can be found in the book “Worth It All” by LaVerna Ediger who served in Ethiopia during the same time as Neva.

In 1977, Neva married Lynn Dubbs, a school teacher in Mechanicsburg. They lived in Lynn’s house there for 32 years before moving to their beautiful apartment at Cross Keys Village in 2009. Neva had the gift of “helps” and was always helping people. In September 2016, Neva was moved to nursing care where she received good care until her death.

A memorial service will be held at 11 am on February 17, 2018 at the Hanover First Church of God, 600 Fairview Drive, Hanover, PA with Pastor Dan Thomas officiating. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service.