Rev. Mardy Picazo, a retired missionary radio engineer, died on April 24, 2008, at the home of a granddaughter in Knoxville, Tennessee, at age 83. He had lived near Morehead, Kentucky, since 1992. Mardoqueo Evaristo Picazo, aka Mardo or Mardy, was born January 3rd, 1925, in Marfa, Texas, the eldest child of the late Rev. Evaristo Picazo and Delores Santos Picazo. Mardy and his two younger brothers and sister grew up in the Southwest desert highlands of Texas, Arizona and New Mexico, where their father served as a minister to Spanish speaking Methodist congregations. Mardy attended Lydia Patterson Institute, a Methodist boarding school in El Paso, Texas where, besides participating in Future Farmers of America, he was the Valedictorian of his high school class. In 1941, at age 16, Mardy began his freshman year at Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky, where he met his future wife, Rachael Overstreet, in Y.D. Westerfield-s Algebra class. The next year, Mardy enlisted in the Navy ROTC and transferred to the University of New Mexico, Carlsbad, where he obtained an electrical engineering degree and officer-s commission in 1945. He married Rachael in Carlsbad in October of the same year. Mardy served briefly aboard two Navy ships before the end of World War II, and was released from active duty in May of 1946. He took graduate studies in radio broadcasting at John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, where the Picazo-s first son, Esteban, was born in 1947. Mardy remained a naval reserve officer until his discharge in 1952. After a year as the chief engineer commissioning Lexington-s new WVLK radio station, Mardy felt a calling from God to missionary service, and accepted an unpaid volunteer engineering position to build and operate the Christian radio station WMTC at the Kentucky Mountain Bible Institute in Vancleve, Kentucky. Mardy and Rachael spent four years in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky working with legendary missionary Miss Lela G. McConnell, while preparing for future ministry overseas. Their second son, Daniel, was born during this time. In 1952 Mardy took his family to Cap Haitien, Haiti, to work with missionary radio station 4VEH, an outreach of the East and West Indies Bible Mission, founded by G.T. Bustin. Mardy and Rachael-s three daughters were born while they were with the Bustin organization - each on a separate mission compound: Rachel Grace at the Wesleyan mission in Fourchet; Paula Ruth at Bustin-s mission in Vaudreuil; and Suzanna at the Baptist mission in Limbe. In 1958 Bustin-s mission was taken over by the Oriental Missionary Society - later known as OMS International; Mardy and Rachael served as OMS missionaries in Haiti until their retirement in 1992. After returning to the family farm in Morehead, Kentucky, Mardy continued to travel in volunteer ministry until 1997 when a near-fatal automobile crash in Oklahoma permanently damaged his mobility. In December 2002, he suffered a debilitating stroke - complicated by diabetes - and had been in failing health since then. Following his wife Rachael-s death on March 18, 2008, he was taken to the home of his granddaughter, Esther Picazo Heneise (Andy), in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he spent his last days with family. Always passionate and gracious in friendships, Mardy recruited and mentored a large number of Christian disciples, technicians, broadcasters and ministers during his 50 years of ministry, and was closely associated with many leaders of the Christian missionary movement worldwide. A Christian fellowship he established with his friends in Port-au- Prince, Haiti, in the late 1960-s later became the Quisqueya Church; a similar fellowship he established with his friends in Cap Haitien, Haiti, became the English Bible Fellowship. Mardy-s wealth of loyal friends came from all cultural and political backgrounds, nationalities and religious faiths. He helped start numerous technical and social projects and was constantly assisting people in need. Mardy often donated his engineering expertise to the broadcasting community and was a lifelong radio amateur (HH5MV), with a QSL card collection of worldwide contacts spanning 60 years. He also taught vocational electronics in Haiti, specializing in computers during the years just before his retirement. Mardy-s mellow radio voice could be heard daily throughout the Caribbean for over 40 years on Radio 4VEH. Fluent in four languages, Mardy reached many different audiences: on the Spanish Bible teaching programs he presented for many years, on the English language radio Bible dramatization series -Doorway into the Past- which he co-produced with his wife Rachael during its long run, and on many station ID messages in Spanish and English. In the 1950s and 60s Mardy and Rachael recruited and taught their five children, as each became old enough, to perform and record Christian music and drama, and frequently toured with them in the USA, Haiti and the Caribbean. Mardy was one of the few foreign missionaries in Haiti with government-issued minister-s credentials; he appeared frequently in churches to officiate at weddings and baptisms and was an evangelist and Bible teacher in the Haitian language. He is famous in Haiti for having presented a Bible to President-for-life Dr. Francois Duvalier in a public ceremony. In June of 2003 Mardy and Rachael were both recognized by the State of Kentucky for their long years of humanitarian service, receiving a citation in Morehead, Kentucky from Senator Walter Blevins, Jr. on behalf of the State Senate, and Kentucky Colonel-s commissions signed by Governor Paul Patton. Mardy was preceded in death by both his parents and a step-mother, Josefina; a younger brother, Rev. Benjamin Picazo (Tillie); and by his wife of 62 years, Rachael Overstreet Picazo. Survivors include five children: a son Esteban Picazo (Brenda) of Springville, New York; a son Daniel Picazo (Celia) of Bethel, Alaska; a daughter Rachel Jenkins (George) of Morehead, Kentucky; a daughter Paula Boren (Jim) of Noblesville, Indiana; and a daughter Suzanna Hardin (Tom) of Boise, Idaho; twelve grandchildren: Steven Picazo, AJ Picazo, Simon Picazo (Rachael), Esther Heneise (Andy), Nathan Hanlon, Jerielle Hanlon, Kristy Moulton (David), Benjamin Boren, Candace Boren, Arianna Kirk (Jeremy), Jerica Broeckling (Alan), Adam Hardin; nine great-grandchildren: Malequi and Kesed Picazo; Anna, Levi, Lydia, Ruthie and Judah Heneise; Ava Kirk, and Luke Broeckling. Among the other survivors are Mardy-s sister Ruth Escobedo (Oscar) of El Paso, Texas; a brother, Rev. Samuel Picazo (Gloria) of Fort Worth, Texas; and ten nieces and three nephews. Friends and family of Mardy Picazo are invited to a celebration of his life at Wesley Hall in the United Methodist Church on 227 West Main, Morehead, Kentucky at 12 o-clock noon, May 13, 2008, with a memorial service afterward in the Methodist sanctuary, the Rev. Bruce Nettleton officiating. After the service, there will be a military honors burial ceremony at Lee Cemetery in Morehead, followed by a fellowship meal in Wesley Hall. Mardy-s late wife Rachael compiled an excellent historical account of the first 50 years of Radio 4VEH titled Let the Rocks Cry Out which is available from OMS International, Box A, Greenwood, Indiana 46142. Please direct any gifts of remembrance on Mardy-s behalf to Radio 4VEH, in care of OMS International. If you wish to contact the family in the future, please direct initial communication to Esteban Picazo, 135 Newman Street, Springville, NY 14141, email: edpicazo@verizon.net Visitation: Tuesday, May 13, 2008, at noon Funeral: Tuesday, May 13, 2008, at 1 p.m. Interment: Lee Cemetery