Amelia Bilyeu

 Amelia Sophia Bodnar Bilyeu was born May 22, 1932, to Michael and Domenica Bodnar in a mud plastered log house her father built on his homestead outside the village of Glendon, Alberta, Canada. Michael had immigrated from Austria-Hungary, and Domenica’s family was from Romania. Amelia was the youngest in the family, the fifth child of Michael and the seventh child of Domenica, who had been a widow after two previous marriages. Domenica tragically died of pneumonia at age 36 on Ukrainian Christmas Eve (January 6) when Amelia was three years old, leaving Michael to raise six children on his own. He was soon forced to go work in the coal mines near Edmonton to earn enough to keep the farm. Amelia and five of her older siblings assumed the daily chores, such as starting and tending the fire in the round tin heater and cast iron cook stove, pulling up buckets of water from the well (which often required chopping through ice), boiling sheets in a copper bottom tub, baking up to fifteen loaves of bread at a time, feeding and milking the cows, mucking the stalls, feeding chickens and cleaning the coop, feeding the hogs, caring for the horses, goats and sheep; churning butter, making cheese, tending the crops and gardens, mending fences — a continual litany of responsibilities. Later in life, Amelia would often say she had received her Ph.D. in “Post hole Digging.” 

  Her older siblings began leaving the farm in their teens, so by age eleven, Amelia was successfully maintaining the homestead by herself, carrying out the instructions her father sent by mail three times a week. All the chores were worked in around the school day. She walked two and a half miles to and from Gifford School, a one room schoolhouse with one teacher for 75 students in grades 1-12. Her father taught her to read as a prerequisite for attendance. Amelia read every book the little school had to offer, and in outdoor competitions won prizes for high jump, long jump and foot races. 

  After an accident on the farm in which her brother scored a hockey goal in her mouth, Amelia experienced dental problems that eventually led to her leaving the farm at age 14 to earn the money required for extensive dental work and dentures. 

  The years that followed were what she described as somewhat chaotic, yet hardworking. Passing as older than her age, she got her first job at the Great Western Garment Factory in Edmonton working the steam press for twelve and then twenty dollars a week. She took subsequent jobs across the western provinces in dry cleaning plants and restaurants, hitchhiking to the Okanagan Valley fruit belt in summer to work in the canneries. Her favorite job was probably working at the YD Guest Ranch in British Columbia from ages 16-17, where she milked cows, rode horseback, played guitar and sang around the campfire while giving the tourist ranch hands a taste of roughing it. 

 She said her life finally found meaning and purpose when, while working at a casket company in Calgary, she was given a Bible at age 29 and learned about God and His undying love for us. She came to know and trust Jesus Christ as she read Matthew 5-7. She devoured the Word of God, memorizing many scriptures and applying them daily as she encountered life’s joys and challenges. Besides John 3:16, one of the first verses she memorized was Philippians 1:6 — “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Lolita Varner, the evangelist who had introduced her to Christ and gave her her first Bible, provided tuition for her to attend what was then Central Bible Institute in Springfield, Missouri in September 1962. Soon afterward Lolita introduced her to Dewey Bilyeu (1925-2001) who proposed the next year, and they were married in June 1963. 

  Amelia lived up to the contemporary meaning of her name, “diligent,” as she poured herself into a life of service as a full-time wife, mother and homemaker, Sunday School and children’s church teacher, Bible study leader, and worship singer in Assemblies of God churches in Jefferson City, MO and Salinas, CA. In Springfield, MO, she was a volunteer counselor with The National Prayer Center of the Assemblies of God. During most of her twenty years living in Charlotte, NC, she served as a weekly volunteer playing her guitar, singing and offering encouragement to residents at two assisted living homes, and serving at her church’s Loaves and Fishes food pantry by distributing food and Bibles to clients. She was also a faithful member of a seniors’ Bible study lunch group where her home-cooked meals were always enthusiastically welcomed. Amelia gave thanks to God for healing her without medical treatment of an internal goiter and later of melanoma and cervical cancer in the sixth month of pregnancy with her youngest daughter. When the doctor recommended chemotherapy, Amelia asked if taking chemo would harm the baby she was carrying within her womb. The doctor replied, “Well…”, to which she replied, “I’m not going to drown in your well,” and she proceeded to pray and trust God, and in due time delivered healthy baby Aimee Ruth. 

 Her causes of death were natural, resulting from respiratory failure and lymphoma after a year of home hospice care. She had often quipped that she was ready for the “Uppertaker.” 

 Amelia passed from this life on Monday, November 25, 2024, at Ballantyne Medical Center near her home in Charlotte, NC. She was dearly beloved by her three surviving daughters Rebecca Fisher (NC), Deborah Thomas (MD), and Aimee Natal (CT); sons-in-law Daniel Fisher, Kenneth Thomas, and Michael Natal; grandchildren Nathan and Elizabeth Fisher, Amelia and Katherine Thomas, and Michaela, Joseph and John Natal; and nieces Beverley and Beryl and nephew Malcolm McNeill of Alberta. 

  Even on her last morning at home, though suffering and in pain from the disease and unable to complete her daily reading of her One Year Bible (which she had read through more than 97 times) and her daily prayer for individuals and nations, Amelia chose to worship Our Lord aloud, and was heard thanking Him for His sacrifice and for the blessing of her “wonderful family.” 

  Amelia was laid to rest beside husband Dewey on Monday, December 1st, at Hopedale Cemetery in Ozark, Missouri, witnessed by daughter Deborah and local Bilyeu family members. A graveside service is planned for summer. Amelia hoped her epitaph would read: 

  “Here lies not Amelia, just her pod; She shelled out and went with God.” 

  Amelia was a cherished blessing to us here on earth. By her unfailing faith in Jesus Christ, she has returned to her true home, whereby God’s mercy she will no doubt hear the words of her Lord and Savior, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” 

  Donations may be made to Loaves & Fishes food pantry where Amelia volunteered, or to the American Bible Society or Voice of the Martyrs organizations she supported that distribute Bibles and help for persecuted Christians around the world.

Arrangements are under the direction of Adams Funeral Home, Ozark.