Henry S Weigel

Henry S. Weigel went peacefully to be with the Lord he loved after a 7-week battle with pancreatic cancer at his home on April 1st, 2021, surrounded by the love of his life, Grace and their three daughters, Sue, Chris and Gretchen. Born Heinrich Stefan Weigel to John and Christine Weigel in Gyönk, Hungary, Henry spent his early childhood on the family farm with two older sisters, Betty and Margaret, one older brother, John, and a younger brother Adam. In November 1944 at the age of 6, his parents felt that the looming threat of the Soviet soldiers made it imperative that they leave the country, so the family packed what they could carry and boarded a box car headed for Germany. Henry’s mother was seven months pregnant with their sixth child, and while his father was helping other families, the train pulled away without him. Henry always used to say that he remembered the faraway look in his mother’s eyes and realized when he was older that she must have been praying her heart out. Because the destination city of the train was unknown, Henry’s father began searching the country of Germany for his family. Weeks of separation went by and on New Year’s Eve, his mother gathered the four oldest children to pray in the new year asking God to bring their father back to them. As the fourth oldest, Henry never forgot that night. As his father kept searching, he entered a building and heard voices through the heating duct speaking in his local dialect, and when he investigated them, he learned of the town to which his family had been taken – the little town of Pleinting. His father immediately set out to find them, taking an express train in that direction. He knew express trains did not stop in one-kilometer towns, so he planned to go to the next stop and make his way back. That night, however, the train made an unscheduled stop in that tiny town, and his father saw a boy on the station platform who told him where to find his family. He was reunited with his family before baby Eva was born on January 30th. Henry always looked to this story of deliverance and answered prayer as a testimony of God’s hand in his life, and he took every opportunity to share this story of what God had done.

The family was sponsored to come to America as war refugees in 1949 and made their way to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to be with extended family. Henry attended Boy’s Technical High School and then the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee where he earned a B.S. in Applied Mathematics and Engineering Physics. He married the love of his life, Grace Susanne Spanenberger, on June 17, 1961 and continued his education at the University of Maryland where he earned a master’s degree in Mathematics. Most of his career as an Operations Research Analyst was with General Research Corporation and the US Department of Energy from which he retired in 2004.

Henry loved the Lord and was an active church member throughout his life, serving as a Deacon for many years at Christ Church of Washington, DC, and then at Centerpointe Church in Fairfax, VA where he also served later as the Missions Coordinator. In his retirement, Henry began participating frequently in and planning missions trips that spanned the globe, completing 39 trips over the course of his life. Often going on 3-4 trips per year and working with Assemblies of God missionaries, he would put together local teams from Centerpointe Church and sometimes partnering churches to construct needed buildings for missionaries. His encouragement, support and love for missions work and missionaries was unparalleled, and he inspired many others to take up this work as well. Henry was also a member of the Gideons organization and distributed hundreds of New Testaments throughout his life, giving one to any who would receive it and often showing them where in the Word they could read of God’s plan of salvation.

To say Henry’s life was well-lived is simple but profoundly true. His love for his family, his heart for the Lord, and his constant wish that none should perish but that all would know of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will forever serve as an inspiration to his children, grandchildren and all who knew him. He was the best of husbands, he was a father who loved and supported his children in every way he could, and he was an adored Pop-Pop who always made sure his grandchildren knew how much he loved them. He will be greatly missed by his wife, Grace, their daughters and sons-in-law and their grandchildren: Sue and Bill Balascio (Jacob and Stefan), Chris and Rick Cravens (Holly, Lauren and Emma), and Gretchen and Martin Doughty (Lottie and Grace).

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Henry Weigel Missions Scholarship Fund (link below).