Obituary of Roberto Vergara

Rev. Roberto Antonio Vergara Arriagada, aged 77, resident of Eugene, OR, passed from this life to his reward at 4:40 am Wednesday, August 27, 2014. Roberto was born in Santiago, Chile in 1936. He grew up playing street soccer and singing on streetcars in the Barrio Matadero. He attended the Escuela Olea, the Liceo Barros Borgoño, and the University of Chile. He met his future wife, Cornelia Ada Morse, an American missionary, at the Methodist Church in Santiago where she worked. They married in the Little Brown Church near Ionia, Iowa in 1956. Roberto played varsity soccer at Wheaton College, where he would later coach and be team chaplain for many years. Roberto and Cornelia returned to Chile as missionaries. They worked with youth clubs and planted a church in El Bosque that continues growing today. They had three sons, Tito, Carlos and Marcos. Upon returning to the US, Roberto began a new career in teaching, first as a Bilingual teacher at Cornille Elementary in Elmhurst, IL, and later as a Spanish teacher at York High School. He was the Hispanic pastor at West Chicago Bible Church and pioneered the Spanish ministry of the Wheaton Bible Church. Upon retiring, Roberto moved to Junction City, OR, where he and Cornelia faithfully served the Hispanic community, and Roberto was the Bilingual pastor for the First Baptist Church. Throughout their lives, they poured out their love on their children, their spouses and their grandchildren Sara, Andrew, Veronica and Victor, and thousands of people in Chile, Illinois and Oregon. During his long battle with cancer his one prayer request was that he continue to give honor to His Lord and Savior until his last breath. He has done so. The memorial service for Pastor Roberto will be held at the First Baptist Church of Junction City at 11am on Saturday, August 30th. He will be laid to rest next to his beloved Cornelia by his family at a private ceremony at the Danish Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be given. They will be used to expand the El Bosque Church in Santiago, Chile. Gifts should be sent to Roberto Vergara Memorial, c/o First Baptist Church of Junction City, PO Box 6, Junction City, OR, 97448. For more information, please call the church office at (541) 998-8211. Roberto’s parting verse was: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7). His final encouragement to you would be: “Keep Looking Up!” Arrangements by Musgrove Family Mortuary.