Short, Donald Karr (1915–2004) and Garnette Geraldine (Mathe) (1913–2005)

Donald Karr “D. K.” Short and his wife, Garnette, served as missionaries in Africa for 37 years.

Early Life

Donald Karr “D. K.” Short was born on January 2, 1915, in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, United States of America.¹ He was the son of Donald Short and Lorena Karr. He became an Adventist in Florida and took up Christian education by studying at Forest Lake Academy before moving to Southern Junior College and later Washington Missionary College. To pay expenses, he worked in the print shops of these schools and thus gained the practical knowledge that enabled him at one period to run his own printing business and later to serve in the Church’s publishing work.

Missionary to Tanganyika

In 1935, he married Garnette Geraldine Mathe (born October 12, 1913) in Marion, Florida. She was a nurse by training. In 1940, after an evangelistic experience in the United States, Donald K. Short, Garnette, and their two children, Donald Jr. and Phyllis, left for Africa to become missionaries. They moved to Tanganyika where, in 1941, he worked under the newly appointed superintendent of the Tanganyika Mission Field, Pastor Hubert M. Sparrow. He was appointed mission director for Mbeya, western Tanganyika, in 1941 before becoming the departmental secretary for Education (1942-46). He later became the director of the Ikizu Mission Station.² In 1943, Pastor D. K. Short was appointed the principal of the Ikizu Training School in northern Tanganyika. He took over from founding principal F. G. Reid. He held that position until 1945 when he handed it over to F. E. Schlehuber and moved to Kenya. He served as director of Gendia Mission Station in south-western Kenya (1947-49). In 1951, he moved to Uganda, where he was appointed the treasurer of the Uganda Mission, a position he held only briefly. Garnette was a constant support to her husband and helped people in need as a nurse. 

Return to Kenya

In 1952, Pastor D. K. Short returned to Kenya after being appointed manager of the Africa Herald Publishing House in Kendu Bay. He took over from E. J. Trace and held the position until 1960.³ He then moved to South Africa and became the manager of the Sentinel Publishing Company (later Southern Publishing Association) in 1960, taking over from P. W. Willmore. He held the position until 1977, then handing it over to J. M. Stephenson.⁴

He returned to the United States and lived in Rosholt, Wisconsin, where he passed away on November 12, 2004.⁵ He was survived by his wife, Garnette, and their two children, Donald A. Short and Phyllis (later Mrs. Pierson). Donald. A. Short walked in his father’s footsteps by becoming a minister and also working at the Africa Herald Publishing House in Kendu Bay from 1967-1971.⁶ Garnette passed away on December 31. 2005.⁷

Legacy

D. K. Short and his wife, Garnette, gave 37 years of continued service to mission service in various countries in Africa. After their returned to the United States, D. K. Short wrote a book with Robert J. Wieland as co-author called 1888 Re-examined: 1888-1988 the Story of a Century of Confrontation Between God and His People. It was published in 1987.

Sources

“Donald Short,” myheratage.com, https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-10002-48779809/donald-short-in-us-social-security-death-index-ssdi. Accessed October 2, 2023.

"Garnette Geraldine Short (born Mathe)." ancestry.com. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/9925976:7545. Accessed October 2, 2023.

Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia. Second revised edition. Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 1996. S.v., “Africa Herald Publishing House.: “Southern Publishing Association.”

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association. Various years. https://www.adventistyearbook.org/.

Notes

1. “Donald Short,” myheratage.com, https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/45838489:60901?tid=&pid=&queryId=467829597bf8c63f8a99aefc3b3d4299&_phsrc=Btm8&_phstart=successSource.↩

2. “Tanganyika Mission Field,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (1944), 160.↩

3. “Africa Herald Publishing House,” Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists (1966).↩

4. “Southern Publishing Association,” Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists (Review & Herald, 1966).↩

5. https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-10002-48779809/donald-short-in-us-social-security-death-index-ssdi Accessed October 2, 2023.↩

6. Min. No. 1067, Minutes of the EAU Meeting held on April 28, 1971 (Pr. CD Henri chairing). East Kenya Union Conference archives, Nairobi, Kenya.↩

7. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/9925976:7545.↩