Doris "Penny" Gale Hatcher

Doris Penny Gale Hatcher

September 10, 1925 April 12, 2015



It is with a mixture of sadness and joy that I report the Home-going of my mom, Penny 'Doris' Hatcher, early Sunday morning, April 12, 2015, about 4 AM, at the age of 89. She had lived a full and rewarding life of ministry and service; much of that time with MAF as a wife, mother, and then widow after Elias W. (Hatch) Hatcher was killed in a plane crash near MAF Headquarters in Fullerton, California, in 1971.



Hatch and Penny Hatcher joined MAF in 1948 during MAF's formative years and served nearly 20 years in Southern Mexico until returning to MAF Headquarters in Southern California in 1968 where Hatch was to be Area Director for MAF in Latin America. Only three years later, on March 2, 1971, Hatch was killed in a tradgic plane crash. Penny would continue on with MAF, following their move from Fullerton to Redlands and working in the Home Office until retiring in 1989.



In 2002 Penny sold her condo in Redlands and moved into the Town and Country Manor, a Christian and Missionary Alliance retirement home in Santa Ana. Here she found friendship and support through many changes and health issues during her final years this side of heaven. Just a few months ago, In January, while still in Assisted Living, Penny finally saw her memoirs, Love That Would Not Let Me Go, published. These had been written over 30 years earlier as a gift to her family and others and were her reflections of Hatch, his tragic death, and the emotional journey of the family that followed.



Penny is survived by her 6 children, Rod, Joy, Jon, Art, Dave, and Jim, and their significant others, 19 grandkids, 46 great-grandkids, and 5 great-geat-grandkids.