Portrait of Isaac Grundy Janes. IMB Photo

Isaac Grundy Janes Jr., an International Mission Board missionary emeritus who shared the gospel in Chile, died March 17, 2025. He was 89.  

Grundy was born Nov. 24, 1935, in Louisville, Kentucky, to the late Isaac Grundy Janes Sr. and Cecile Nuckols Janes. He graduated from Atherton High School in Louisville and received the Master of Arts from Georgetown (Kentucky) College and the Bachelor of Divinity from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. 

While seeking missionary appointment he recalled answering the call of God to full-time Christian service when he was 16 years old. He wrote that his call had much significance in his life and became stronger as he grew as a Christian. While in college, he began to feel the needs of the foreign mission field.  

He wrote, “Dr. William Jester, missionary to Nigeria, was teaching Bible at Georgetown while home on furlough. I was fortunate enough to be in his class and here I began to feel that perhaps the Lord wanted me on the foreign mission field. After much prayer and consideration, I felt definitely that this was where the Lord wanted me and I began to plan toward that goal.” 

He married Jean Bell on June 24, 1956. While in seminary, he had the opportunity to do social work. After seminary graduation in 1961, he became a teacher and then an assistant principal of curriculum, working to gain experience for educational ministry on the mission field.  

In 1966, the International Mission Board appointed Grundy and Jean missionaries to Chile. The Janeses served as educators at Colegio Bautista in Temuco, Chile, for 30 years. 

Grundy was preceded in death by his wife of 64 years, Jean Carol Bell Janes.  

He is survived by two sons, Robert Grundy Janes (Benny) of Saint Augustine, Florida, and Thomas Warner Janes (Amanda) of Leesburg, Virginia; four grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.