Enjoy our new site, launched recently! If you have questions, concerns, or spot any bugs, please email us at web@imb.org

In memoriam: Missionary emeritus Beverly Ann Anderson, 1938-2024

Portrait of Beverly Anderson. IMB Photo

Beverly Ann Anderson, an International Mission Board missionary emeritus who shared the gospel in Malawi, died May 20, 2024, in Salina, Oklahoma. She was 86.  

Beverly was born Jan. 27, 1938, in Wichita Falls, Texas, to the late Bud and Doris (Frye) Wheeler. She graduated from Northeast High School in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and worked for an oil company until she married Bill Anderson on Jan. 25, 1958. They lived in Oklahoma City for the first 18 years of marriage. In 1978 they moved to the Anderson family farm in Pryor, Oklahoma, becoming the fourth generation of her husband’s family to live there. The family raised, trained and showed quarter horses in a three-state area.  

After they moved to the farm, Beverly wrote when seeking missionary appointment, a neighbor who lived across the road began sharing his love for Jesus Christ with Beverly and the family. Although she had grown up in the church, Beverly said, she had not known Christ as her personal Savior and Lord. When the neighbor confronted her about whether Jesus was Lord of her life, she responded, “I didn’t know He was supposed to be?” 

After three days of intense conviction, Beverly realized she had not made God the Lord of her life. Her neighbor led her in in the sinner’s prayer and her life was never again the same, she said. Soon each member of her family gave their life to Jesus. 

For 20 years Beverly sang gospel music in Native American churches and during that time she also started a business selling country décor in major markets throughout the United States. She eventually sold the business to be a full-time Christian mother.  

In 1999, after 41 years of marriage, her husband, Bill, died. Four months later, Beverly said, God called her to be a missionary. A little over a year after Bill’s death, the International Mission Board appointed her to work with women in Blantyre, Malawi, a nation in Southeast Africa. She served there for 12 years. 

“From farm woman to ministry as a National Women’s Worker has been a miraculous journey,” Beverly wrote. “Wow! God really moved fast in my life.” 

Besides her husband, Beverly was preceded in death by daughter-in-law, Paula Anderson. 

She is survived by her children, Jess Anderson (Freda) of Pryor, Billy Anderson (partner Melinda Lamar) of Pryor, Michael Anderson (Brenda) of Chouteau, Oklahoma, and Katherine Baker (Paul) of Pryor; her sister Patsy; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  

Donations in her memory may be made to the Lottie Moon Offering, IMB, 3806 Monument Avenue, Richmond, VA 23230, or online at Generosity Resource Center – IMB Generosity. 

Read an obituary here.