In memoriam: Emma Elizabeth Corwin, 1935-2023

Emma Elizabeth Corwin, 1935-2023
IMB Photo

Emma Elizabeth Corwin (Liz), an International Mission Board missionary emeritus who shared the gospel in Singapore, died April 9, 2023. She was 88.

Liz was born April 8, 1935, in Edmond, Oklahoma, to James Thomas Hudman, Jr. and Emma Diamond Nix Hudman. She spent her childhood in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, at the Baptist Children’s Home, and graduated from John Marshall High School. She studied at the Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and the Seminary Extension Department in Nashville, Tennessee.

While attending Oklahoma Baptist University, she met William “Bill” Corwin, whom she married in 1954. Shortly thereafter, they began their life together as pastor and wife at First Baptist Church Mounds, in Oklahoma, and Hillcrest Park Baptist Church, in Arlington, Texas.

While seeking missionary appointment, Liz, who was a mother and pastor’s wife at the time, wrote:

“I used to pray, ‘Lord, if you could use my children in mission work, I would be willing to let them go.’ The realization that perhaps God could use us did not come in one great dramatic moment but has come over the months and the feeling has increased that we should pursue this action toward seeking
missionary appointment,” she said.

“I cannot tell you exactly when the time came that we were convinced that God wanted us in foreign missions. Over the months as we have completed the forms, have written the life histories and announced to our church our intentions, we have become convinced that if we should be appointed, we
would hasten to do the Lord’s will.”

In 1967, the Foreign Mission Board (now the International Mission Board) appointed Bill and Liz missionaries to Singapore. After serving 31 years in Indonesia and Singapore, they retired in 1998.

Liz is preceded in death by Bill, her husband of 52 years.

She is survived by three children, Scott Corwin (Laurie), Kerri (Gary) Guisness, and Kelly Prindle (Bruce); four grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

A funeral service was held on April 27 at First Baptist Church in Midlothian, Texas.

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.