Marty Graber
Born on May 11, 1934, in Adams County, Indiana, Dr. Martin (Marty) J. Graber was raised in a Christian home on his parents' farm one mile west of Linn Grove, Indiana. He was saved at the age of nine during a Sunday evening missionary service, and in July of 1950, at the age of sixteen, Marty was sanctified after responding to an altar call during an evangelistic meeting.
At the age of fourteen, Marty knew he wanted to be a doctor and thought that one day he would become a missionary doctor. After initially dropping out of high school because the school did not offer premedical classes such as chemistry, physics, and Latin, Marty returned two years later and graduated from Hartford High School in 1954. Following graduation, he enlisted in the Army for three years, where he attended Army school and became an x-ray technologist, serving in a MASH unit in Wurzburg, Germany.
After leaving the military, Marty completed his ultimate dream of graduating from Indiana University School of Medicine in 1964, having first received a B.A. in medical science from Indiana University in 1960. Following his residency in Fort Wayne, he joined Dr. Robert Boze's medical practice in Berne, Indiana. In 1969, he moved to Indianapolis, where he became a founding member of the Indiana College of Emergency Medicine and served as Associate Director of St. Francis Hospital Family Practice Residency Program.
On December 5, 1970, Marty married Anna (Ann) Mae Lehman, who had received her degree as a registered nurse in 1964 from Lutheran Hospital School of Nursing in Indiana. In 1980, the couple went on a short-term mission trip to Tenwek Hospital in Kenya, East Africa, serving from January through May. Both Marty and Ann rededicated their lives to the Lord during World Gospel Mission's International Celebration of Missions in 1980 and returned to Kenya in November of that same year, where Marty ended up serving until 1993.
Initially serving as volunteers at Tenwek, Marty and Ann were given associate missionary status with World Gospel Mission on June 21, 1983. On October 18, 1988, they were appointed to Kenya as career missionaries. During their years in Kenya, Marty's field responsibilities included working at Tenwek as a physician, medical coordinator, and assistant superintendent, while Ann worked as a registered nurse, secretary to the medical coordinator, and field hostess. They had five children: Gregory, Marcia Mankin, Mark, Michelle, and Michael.
Ann went to be with her Heavenly Father on March 3, 1997, passing away in her sleep after fighting a battle with cancer. After leaving Tenwek in 1993, Marty spent a year serving with Samaritan's Purse in Somalia, Sudan, and Rwanda. He then spent the next 25 years developing medical clinics with the Maasai people before retiring in 2020 to spend time with his family.
Overall, Dr. Marty Graber spent over 40 years treating people's physical needs and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. From his early calling as a fourteen-year-old farm boy to his decades of service in East Africa, his life was a testament to following God's call to heal both bodies and souls. Marty passed away on August 14, 2025, and he and Ann are now face-to-face with the Lord they spent their lives serving.