Joan Carol Gorton

Joan Carol Gorton was born December 8th, 1935 in Chicago, Illinois to Merrill George Gorton and Leah Durborow Eyre. She grew up in San Diego, California. She gave her life to Jesus at a Youth For Christ event on February 18, 1950 when she was in high school. She met Ronald Earl Wiebe at a Youth For Christ event that she organized for the local San Diego high schools. They were married August 4th, 1957 and went to Bolivia as missionaries in April, 1960.

Ron and Joan fell in love with the Bolivian people and ministered in Bolivia until after retirement in October of 2010. Driven by their deep love for the youth of Bolivia and their ministry as Directors of a popular Youth Center, they worked to fulfill a God given dream of acquiring land — founding Camp Candelaria, now known as Camp Kewina. This camp continues to serve as a hub for Children’s, Youth, and Family camps, as well as Spiritual Retreats. Joan was a Bible teacher and taught seminary students how to teach God’s Word. With her students to, it became clear that the Sunday School curriculum was well translated from English, but it lacked cultural relevance. Joan then established a Curriculum Writing project in Bolivia to generate Sunday School curriculum that was relatable to the Bolivian people. She helped train a Bolivian team of writers that created lessons which are used throughout Latin American.

Joan was an excellent hostess, and multiple guests stopped by the home daily, where she would minister to their needs, pray with them, and counsel them. One of the daily chores for Joan’s children was to go to the local bakery and pick up an assortment of baked treats for any guests who would inevitably stop by that day.

Joan was preceded in death by her loving husband of 55 years, Ron Earl Wiebe, her parents Merrill George Gorton and Leah Durborow Eyre, her brothers, Merrill George Gorton Jr., and Robert Dennis Gorton, and her sister, Pamela Joy Gorton Grice, her children Joan and Elaine, and her grandchildren, Lauren Wiebe and Ryan Wiebe. She is survived by 3 biological children, Gary, Ron, and Michael, 2 adopted children, Reyna and Carlos, and many ahijados.

Joan was a missionary to her last day. She was very direct: “Do you know Jesus? Let me tell you about my friend Jesus!” We are convinced that there are many who are in heaven due to her ministry. She'll be dearly missed but we rejoice that she is with her Savior whom she loved and served faithfully. A memorial service will be held for her on May 23, 2026 at 10am in the SIM Retirement Village Chapel in Sebring, Florida.