William Carl Hunker was born in Lakeview, Ore., on April 24, 1916, to Harry C. Hunker and Louise A. Bosworth. He grew up in Canon City, Colo.
After high school, he worked for two years in the mountains of Colorado with the Civilian Conservation Corps. In 1940, he graduated with highest honors from William Jewell College.
Carl HunkerAfter graduation, he enrolled at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky. There he met Jeanette Roebuck and they married in 1943. He completed his Th.M. and Ph.D. degrees in 1946.
Both Carl and Jeanette felt a strong call to be missionaries, embarked for China in 1946 with their son, David, and were assigned to work in Suzhou, Kiangsu Province, where their daughter, Joyce Lynn, was born.
Hunker spent two years studying Chinese and working with students. With the regime change in China in 1948, the family relocated to the Philippines, where they entered language study for a second time to learn Mandarin.
In 1952, Carl and Jeanette were called to work in Taiwan, and she died there in 1983. Carl returned to the States for a year before two more years of service in India, Malaysia and again in Taiwan. He retired as a missionary in 1986.
He served as a church planter, pastor, seminary professor and seminary president, as well as mentor to hundreds of his students and congregants.
In 1963 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from William Jewell and a humanitarian award in 2009.
After his retirement, he returned to the United States and began working with the Chinese community in Kansas City. He served as pastor and pastor emeritus of Emmanuel Chinese Baptist Church from the late 1980s until he died. He attended services there until two weeks before his death.
Carl is survived by his son, David (Maggie); daughter, Joyce Lynn Maslin (Phil); grandchildren Carrie Scott (Jake), Joel and Janell Wright (Marcus); and great-granddaughter Kaylynn.
Memorials may be made to Emmanuel Chinese Baptist Church, Overland Park.
See also:
Letter: Carl Hunker a Baptist saint
