Welch was born July 23, 1911, in Ponass Lake, Saskatchewan. He was a 1936 graduate of Minnehaha Academy and Bible Institute, a 1939 graduate of North Park College and Bible Institute, and attended Augsburg College for a year before his ordination during the Covenant Annual Meeting in June 1940.
The same month he married Gladys Berg, whom he had met during his time as a home missionary in North Branch, Ontario, in the 1930s. They were commissioned as missionaries and left for Unalakleet, Alaska, in 1940. They also served in White Mountain, Alaska. Following language studies in Mexico, they became the first Covenant missionaries to Ecuador, serving in Quito and Ibarra from 1947 to 1949.
Welch served Covenant churches in Phoenix, Arizona; Clear Lake, Washington; Hastings, Nebraska, and Kane, Pennsylvania. He also owned a Christian bookstore in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. His life story, Memories of a Sky Pilot, was published in 1997.
His wife preceded him in death in 1988. Survivors include his daughter, Grace Lund. Memorial gifts may be made by check to the Department of World Mission, Evangelical Covenant Church, 8303 West Higgins Road, Chicago, IL, 60631.
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Bless the memory of George Welch. I remember him from the days of our internship in DuBois, PA when he was in Kane, PA. He was a faithful servant of the gospel and a gracious and kind man.
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05.11.12 at 9:06 am
Thank you, brother George, for your life and ministry.
I enjoyed getting to know you during my visits. Your words of encouragement and wisdom are still appreciated and remembered. Enjoy your eternity, brother!!
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05.11.12 at 2:18 pm
Bless the memory of George Welch, a pioneer of the Covenant ministries in Latin America. May the Lord multiply his kind.
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05.16.12 at 7:39 am