Russian evangelist Yvan Kolesnikow and German minister's wife Christel Rischer died one day apart.

Kolesknikow

Two international church figures, one Russian and the other German, died in recent
weeks.

Yvan Kolesknikow, 94, died April 6 in Montreal, Canada. He was born in 1907
in Russia and married a German woman, Maria. They were impounded in Germany
during World War II. Eventually they moved to Canada, where they became Christians
through the influence of their son, John, and missionaries S.F. Timmerman and
Henry Ciszek. During the 1980s, well before the fall of Communism, Kolesnikow
preached on six stations 66 times a week to the Russian people.

He was assisted by John, who planned to take over the program eventually, but
who died in 1986. This program still continues via recorded tapes, of which
there are thousands. The Wilshire church in Oklahoma City sponsors the program.

Rischer

Christel Rischer, 62, wife of German evangelist Rudolf Rischer, died in Augsburg,
Germany, April 7. She was born in Berlin in 1938. She was baptized at 14 and
was a lifelong teacher of women and children. She married Rudy in 1960.

Among her accomplishments was mountain climbing, including conquering tall
peaks in Tibet. She is survived by her husband; daughters Andreas and Martina;
son Thomas; and four grandchildren.