Audré Bleecker was born in a chicken coop. And believe it or not, that may be the least interesting thing about her notable life.
Some of the other memorable stories from this Paraclete associate’s life are that she learned to swim at age four—after falling in a canal, met Jesus at a Christian camp at age 10, and spent her life serving others in a way that took her as far as Brazil.
She passed away on Good Friday this year. Her family and friends are remembering her life at a memorial service at 3 p.m. on May 15 at Redeemer Bible Church in Gilbert, Ariz.
“She was quite a woman,” said her son, Don Parrott. “I’m proud that she was my mom.”
Born July 7, 1926 in Hoodsport, Wash., her home was too far from the hospital, Parrott said. So, the birth was set up to happen in the outdoor chicken coop. She grew up near a canal known for its logging. Her mom would gather logs that had gotten loose from log booms to use for firewood. One day at age four, when Audré was helping her, she fell in. But she quickly figured out how to swim and soon enjoyed it enough to do it nearly every day.
Near her home was a military base. As a teen, she would attend dances on the base. At one particular dance, she met a soldier from Michigan named Leonard. They fell in love and married on Aug. 12, 1944.
Leonard soon became a Christian, believed he was called into ministry, but decided to ignore that fact for a little while. In those early years of marriage, they moved to Michigan and had their first three kids, Don, Melanie and Merryann. In 1952, Leonard remembered his ministry calling, and they returned to the Pacific Northwest to attend Multnomah School of the Bible. Leonard both worked full time and attended the Bible school. Audré was able to attend a couple of semesters of night classes before having her fourth child, Jonathan. When he graduated, Leonard served as a pastor of a church in Adin, Calif.
In 1958, they joined Child Evangelism Fellowship, moved to Michigan, then Washington and later, in 1963, to Brazil. A few years later, Leonard got cancer, so the family moved back to Washington. Leonard passed away in 1971.
With her kids now grown, Audré moved back to Brazil to do administrative work for several mission organizations.
“She wasn’t afraid to do things on her own,” Parrott said.
Burke Bleecker, a man who’d been a childhood neighbor of hers heard she was single. He went to Brazil to visit her. They fell in love and in 1974, got married.
Audré and Burke moved to Colorado, then Florida, then Arizona to provide transportation and hospitality to missionaries who were in the States on furlough. Don Parrot became the president of Paraclete in 2004. Soon after, Audré joined Paraclete so she could continue serving missionaries. In 2016, Burke passed away. Audré continued to serve in various capacities, including in her church and through an active prayer ministry. She also had an incredible voice, sang often in churches and loved to paint china.
Even in her last days, Audré spent daily time praying through a no of prayer requests.
“She was faithful in that up until the end,” Parrott said. “Even when she couldn’t really pick up her Bible, she was praying for people.”