Retired Covenant global personnel Vicky Love passed away March 31, 2025. She was 80.
Vicky Faye Hunnewell was born June 25, 1944, to parents Lawrence and Edna Hunnewell in Klamath Falls, Oregon. As a child, she attended a Methodist church in Sweet Home, Oregon.
Vicky moved with her parents to Ketchikan, Alaska, in 1960. They later moved to Sitka, where she met a young man named Stanley Jerome “Jerry” Love. On their first date Vicky accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior.
While in Alaska, Vicky began to sense a call to missions. As a young woman, she signed a pledge card to become a missionary to Mexico or elsewhere in Latin America. She was baptized into Christian faith in August 1964, and she and Jerry married the next month on September 19, 1964.
The Loves moved to La Grande, Oregon. Vicky attended Northwest Nazarene College and Eastern Oregon College, where she earned a bachelor of science degree in elementary education. They moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where Vicky also earned a librarian certificate from Missouri State College. She also earned a piano teaching credential from the Sherwood School of Music in Chicago, Illinois. After Jerry’s seminary education was complete, the Loves accepted a call to pastoral ministry in Seaside, Oregon, where Vicky served as an educator in the Seaside School District.
Vicky and Jerry spent more than two years serving with Operation Mobilization in Spain, England, Belgium, and finally Mexico, from 1974 to 1976. In June 1977, Jerry and Vicky were called into missionary service to Mexico with the Evangelical Covenant Church. Following their initial language study, they served as church planters in Mexico City, then later in Reynosa, Monterrey, and further south in Puebla. With the establishing of a new Covenant church, Vicky ministered to children through Christmas pageants, vacation Bible school and other programs. She taught bimonthly Christian education workshops and courses in piano and music theory. She spoke at conferences and collaborated with Margie Swenson to help develop a Spanish Sunday school curriculum. During her time in Monterrey, Vicky served with a homeowner’s association. She also taught calligraphy classes in her local neighborhood.
In 1984, she authored the book Childless Is Not Less, “a guide to spiritual and emotional health for people who do not have children and may feel disappointed—with themselves, their mates, or even with God.” Her book was printed in English, Spanish, German, and Braille.
Vicky and Jerry were members of Ravenswood Covenant Church in Chicago. Since retiring from the mission field in 2008, she and Jerry served together in pastoral ministry at Powell Valley Covenant Church in Gresham, Oregon.
Vicky and Jerry had a legendary love story. When Jerry would travel, Vicky would tell him, “Don’t fall in love with anyone else until I see you again.” On one occasion, Jerry looked at her and said, “I’d probably think a lot more about heaven if I didn’t have so much of it right here.” When their hearing was beginning to fade, Jerry would say, “I can’t hear you, but I’m so glad I’ve got eyes so I can still see you.”
Vicky lived with passion and purpose, even in her later years. “The Lord and I have an agreement,” she told a good friend. “He can take me home whenever he wants to, but I don’t want to live in vain, and I don’t want to die in vain. I don’t want to die just because I’m old. I want my death to have purpose.”
Vicky was preceded in death by her father, Lawrence Hunnewell, and her mother Edna Lytner, who lived until she was 107.
She is survived by her loving husband, Jerry. Her celebration of life was held April 12, 2025, at Powell Valley Covenant Church.
Peace be to her memory.
