Jessie Yardy, of Savoy, formerly of Urbana, moved from earthly to eternal life on September 10, 2026, at the age of 104.

Jessie was born November 23, 1921, at the Home of Redeeming Love in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to Frank and Beulah Fry.

Jessie’s family moved from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to the Seattle, Washington area when she was three years old. In 1944, she graduated from Seattle Pacific College with a teaching endorsement. This is where Jessie met her future husband, Paul. After her graduation, Jessie took a bus to Denver, Colorado, where Paul was then in medical school. The two were married on October 6, 1944.

In February 1950, after Paul’s graduation from medical school, he and Jessie journeyed for two months across the Pacific Ocean to India on freighter with their first two children. Four more children were born in India. Paul and Jessie had been assigned as Free Methodist missionaries to

Umri, a tiny village of just four hundred people in central India. This is where Dr. Paul Yardy developed Umri Christian Hospital. Jessie helped establish a school for both village children and the children of hospital staff. During her years in India, Jessie wrote a book called The Christian

Family, which has several printed editions and was translated into multiple languages.

After fourteen years in India, the family moved to Urbana, Illinois, in 1965. During the 1970s and 80s, Jessie and Paul taught a series of Christian family living courses together in their local church.

In 1985, Jessie and Paul reentered the mission field to serve as Free Methodist missionaries for four years at Kibogora Hospital in Nyamsheke, Rwanda. They returned to Urbana in 1989.

Wherever she lived, Jessie was a gracious hostess to many. In her later years, she made special memories with family, neighbors and friends. Jessie continued to enjoy traveling to visit loved ones around the world well into her 80s.

Jessie is survived by five children: David (Sherrill) Yardy, Sharon (Ron) Hicks, Pauline Johnson, Robert (Donna) Yardy, and Yvonne (Robert) Gilchrist. She is also survived by twenty grandchildren and fifty-one great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Paul Yardy, on December 5, 1995; her parents; three sisters, Esther, Frances, and Isabelle; her daughter, Rosalie; sons-in-law, Anthony Casurella, David Johnson, Dennis Tucker; and great-granddaughter, Hannah Cruz.

MEMORIAL SERVICE

Mattis Avenue Free Methodist Church, 1913 S Mattis Ave, Champaign, IL

Saturday, September 26, 2026

Visitation will be held from 1:00-2:00 pm

A memorial service at 2:00 pm at the same location.

Nursery care will be provided.

IN LIEU OF FLOWERS

To honor Jessie, donations can be made in lieu of flowers to the 75th Anniversary Documentary of Umri Christian Hospital. Seventy-five years ago, at midnight on July 3, 1951, Paul, Jessie, and their three children arrived in Umri, India. With the opening of a few crates of medicines and equipment, a hospital was launched that is now a flourishing institution of healing and education. Donations can be made at tinyurl.com/umri-christian-hospital. Please include “Documentary” in the gift memo section. Checks can also be sent to FM Financial, 8050 Spring Arbor Rd., Spring Arbor, MI 49283, with “Documentary” on the memo line. Donations beyond this need will be applied to the purchase of medical equipment for the hospital. Renner-Wikoff Chapel is handling arrangements.