I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4:7
Obituary
With deep sadness, we announce the passing of Mariana, who was born on 14th April 1945 and passed away on 18th July 2026 in Cape Town.
At age 16, in a park Mariana met a Japanese school teacher and 20 school children. They were emigrating to Brazil, and their ship was making a 3 or 4 day stop in Cape Town. She bought Japanese Bibles and tracts for them as this awakened in her missions awareness. Active in YFC South Africa, when YFC through a music team had an outreach in Brazil and Chile, Mariana was Secretary on the Outreach Committee. She started going to OMF prayer meetings, too. In 1972, married to Jim, they were designated to Japan. After 2 years language study, with Jim busy in literature and media evangelism, Mariana served in a church plant pastored by a Japanese. In 1981 they served in international leadership in Singapore for 2 years but left due to her ill health. In 1995 OMF Japan invited them back. Mariana had an effective personal ministry including a home Bible study, one of whose members contacted them the week before she died; another was a retired WWII Japanese spy in Russia. A highlight was her evangelistic art exhibition.
They returned to Cape Town in 2010 for retirement. But the word “retirement” wasn’t in her vocabulary, In a society with many underprivileged, she was relentless in her commitment to uplifting others. Mariana loved out LOUD. We always knew what she was thinking and feeling. (Whether we wanted to or not.) Her determination ensured that many people had access to an education that had potential to change the course of their lives. Her devotion to Jim was unwavering - they were married for 56 years and treasured celebrating their anniversary at Vergelegen every year.
She loved her kids tremendously. James was born in Japan and Beth in Cape town while on Home Assignment. Her 4 grandsons made her heart burst with pride. The bond between her and Roark (easy as they live in Claremont, while James and his boys are in the UK) was not an experience James and Beth had with a grandparent, so it was special to see.
She loved succulents and proteas and rose fragrances and chocolate and ice cream and lime green. She led what was a fascinating life for her time, living in different foreign countries, some with tropical climates and others with extreme snowfall. She taught in schools on the Cape Flats during apartheid riots in the 1980s, where she learnt the way to get safe passage between bricks and molotov cocktails was to raise her fist in the Amandla salute out the car window. By contrast In the 1990s she lived in Tokyo where the crowded streets she walked are ruled by social order and peaceful harmony.
In addition to her London University Diploma in Theology, she obtained a Bachelors’ degree when she was a working mom of 2 kids, a Masters’ in her 50s, and wrote 4 books in her 70s which are almost singular in their niche genre. She spoke 3 languages fluently. She was creative, painting in different mediums, oils and watercolours, but her framed silk paintings hang on the walls of their home.
Her life ran its full circle. It included 25 years in Japan and 2 in Singapore and trips to Malaysia and Indonesia in between. It started with Brazil. Days before her last hospitalisation, she asked Jim to write to OMF Brazil to offer them the rights to translate her first book, “Jesus for Japan” into Brazilian Japanese, not for royalties but to further the awareness and commitment to missions in Japan.
She was loved, and she will be missed.
Service
A Thanksgiving Service was held at Christ Church Somerset West on 31st July 2026. Mariana had very clear wishes for the tone and direction of her memorial:
"This service is to be one of praise & worship to God. Memories of me, but an emphasis on God's grace to me. First of all, God's love and mercy in saving me, Jesus' saving death and resurrection that has brought me to Heaven and enabled my life since 1957. I don't want a list of my service, character or anything else to be a list of a person's accomplishments, but a list of the enabling of a weak person for God's purposes, His Grace at each step."
We did our best to honor her request.
Welcome & Prayer - Rev. Gavin Millard
Hymn - Before The Throne of God Above
Reading: Psalm 103 - Renée Hindley
Tribute - Beth Burke
Mariana’s daughter Beth shared a tribute, rich in anecdotes, memories and vignettes from Mariana’s life and James and Beth’s childhood.
Tributes - Read by Bronwen Struwig
Bronwen read tributes shared by friends from different chapters and seasons of Mariana’s life: Denise Brickman, Chioma Uchendu, Maria Le Roux, Olea Nel.
Reading: Job 13:17 - 14:20 - Rev. Gavin Millard
Sermon - Rev. Gavin Millard
Prayer - Jannie Theunissen
Hymn - Come, O Fount of Every Blessing
Timeline
Slideshow
Messages and Memories
It was with deep sorrow, yet quiet confidence, that we received the news of Mariana's homegoing. Though her passing came as a shock, we rest in the assurance that she is now safely with the Lord and Saviour she served so faithfully across a lifetime.
What a life it was. From that providential meeting in a Cape Town park at sixteen — Japanese Bibles pressed into the hands of emigrants bound for Brazil — to your years together in Japan, the Lord wove a thread of missionary devotion through all her days. We give thanks for her home Bible study and the lives touched through it, for her evangelistic art, and for a heart that simply did not know the word "retirement." Even in Cape Town she pressed on, opening doors of education and dignity to those whom society had overlooked. That her final concern was to see "Jesus for Japan" carried to Brazil — not for royalties, but for the sake of the gospel — tells us everything about the woman she was. Her life ran its full circle, and it ran it well. "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." We grieve with you, but not as those without hope. May the God of all comfort hold you close in these days, and may the memory of her faith and love be a lasting strength to you. With heartfelt sympathy and prayers, In the Lord's fellowship, OMF
May the Lord comfort Jim, James, Beth, and all her family and friends. While her sudden passing is certainly cause for grief, we do not mourn as those who have no hope (1 Thess 4:13). May the Lord continue to comfort and reassure you with this wonderful, certain resurrection hope in Christ, in which Mariana trusted so fervently throughout her life.
Blessings to you all.
I met Mariana in 2017 at Christ Church Waterkloof, and from then on we became very close. She changed my life from grass to grace. I am who I am today because of her support, love and encouragement.
Mariana supported me both financially and emotionally and, most importantly, she taught me about faith and trusting God. I will always be grateful to God for bringing her into my life.
Now that she is resting in God’s hands, her kindness, love and good deeds will remain in our hearts forever.
May her beautiful soul rest peacefully.
It's many many years since I last saw the two of you, in those long ago times in Cape Town.
God bless 🙏
From aches and pains and being mom's taxi, to petitioning publishers as well as govt institutions, it seemed that there was no event in Mariana's life that went unshared, often with a humour that made me laugh out loud as I read the emails.
She was not unaware of the quirkiness of life, she was its connoisseur!
I've not known many people with a more vibrant love for or delight in our Risen Lord Jesus than Mariana. I learnt so much from her. I am praising God that she is now safely and joyfully with Him; and excited about praising Him alongside her in the Golden City, in the Lord's good timing.
Sending so much love to you, and keeping you in prayer in these strange days. Thank you again for letting us know.
Catherine, for Richard, Gillian and family
PS - writing this from my kitchen, where one of Mariana's silk paintings of tulips hangs.
You lived well Sister Mariana. Goodnight!
Much love from us both, Tony and Pat
May she rest in eternal peace now and well done good and faithful servant of God.
Keep ing the family and close friends in prayer
Ann (from Scotland)
Our loving sympathy to you and all the family. We have never met any of you but knew your oh so special Mum since she was 16 or 17 years old, while I worked for Youth for Christ. We lost contact over many years until Mariana made contact with us from SW. over all the years Mariana had remained in my memory. Unfortunately our circumstances also changed over this time with Ernst's fall and subsequent op. and the changes this brought left me with only time to pray for her as I longed to contact her. May your memories of Mariana's beautiful life bring healing and wholeness as you mourn her. God's best to you each one.
With much love Esmè & Ernst
Family tree
Donate
Together, let us continue the legacy of her compassion and service she embodied throughout her life. Please reach out to mariananesbitt02@gmail.com if you feel moved to contribute.
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