Elisabeth Elliot Gren, esteemed missionary, influential speaker and best-selling author, died Monday, June 15, at her home in Gloucester, Massachusetts. She was 88.

Known to many simply as Elisabeth Elliot, she suffered from dementia, which took her out of public ministry soon after being diagnosed a decade ago. Her daughter, Valerie Elliot Shepard, said that Elliot had recently experienced multiple mini-strokes, according to a Baptist Press report.

Born in 1926 to missionary parents in Belgium, she came to the U.S. when she was just a few months old and grew up in Germantown, Pennsylvania, where her father became an editor of the The Sunday School Times. The family lived in the Philadelphia area and later in New Jersey until she started attending Wheaton College, where she met the man who would become her husband, Jim Elliot.

During their courtship, she wrote Passion and Purity. They were married in 1953 in Quito, Ecuador, having gone to the field as single missionaries. Jim and four other missionaries were killed by the Auca Indians three years later, and the story became famous after appearing in a major article in Life magazine.

End of the Spear, Every Tribe Entertainment's film about the five martyred missionaries, was based on Elliot's international best-seller Through Gates of Splendor and the documentary Beyond the Gates of Splendor. The 2006 movie grossed nearly $12 million during its theatrical run.

Known widely for her writing and speaking, Elliot wrote a number of best-selling books, including Through Gates of Splendor, Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot and The Savage, My Kinsman. She also wrote A Chance to Die, a biography of missionary Amy Carmichael.

Elliot and her daughter, Valerie, who was 10 months old, stayed in Ecuador after Jim’s death and eventually chose to live among the Auca tribesmen who had killed Jim and the other missionaries. Elliot worked for two years with the Aucas, then went back to the Quichua mission work until 1963 when she and Valerie returned to the U.S.

In 1969, she married Addison Leitch, who died in 1973. He was a professor of theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts. Elliot married Lars Gren in 1977.

Upon her passing, Gren posted a message at elisabethelliot.org.

“We rejoice for Elisabeth that she is home with her Lord as of 6:15 a.m., June 15, 2015,” he wrote. “Thank you for your prayers and messages of comfort.”

“Elisabeth Elliot had a wonderful ministry over the past 60 years,” said Mark Taylor, president and CEO. “Tyndale House was proud to be the publisher of her book Let Me Be a Woman, first published in 1977. And in 1981—on the 25th anniversary of the death of Jim Elliot and his colleagues in Ecuador—Tyndale released a paperback edition of her best-selling book Through Gates of Splendor. In the years since then, we have introduced nearly 500,000 readers to the story of those missionary martyrs. We are thankful for the life and ministry of Elisabeth Elliot. We will miss her.”

Twila Bennett, executive director of marketing and publicity, Revell, reflected on Elliot and her writing with the imprint.

“Revell is honored to have been the publisher for many of Elisabeth Elliot’s beloved books, including The Journals of Jim Elliot, A Chance to Die, Passion & Purity, Quest for Love, Discipline—the Glad Surrender and The Mark of a Man,” Bennett said. “She was unique in every way—her powerful determination and fierce love of God made people want to sit up and pay attention. Her direct way of speaking pulled no punches, and yet there was a depth of compassion with those who had suffered losses that only can come from personal knowledge. Revell and Baker Publishing Group are saddened at the loss of one of the outstanding women of present-day Christianity. Our hearts and prayers go out to Lars Gren and their family.”

Crossway offered this tweet: “Elisabeth Elliot on the true essence of femininity. As important today as ever. http://t.co/9zi23Wp3E5”

Retailer Lorraine Valk posted this to her store’s Facebook page: “Today the Lord took Elisabeth Elliot home,” said the owner of Parable Christian Store of St. Joseph in West Michigan. “Her book Through Gates of Splendor had a great impact on my life. Well done good & faithful servant—your writings will continue to inspire others to serve Him.”

LifeWay Christian Stores offered this tweet: “We're saddened to learn of missionary & author Elisabeth Elliot's passing but rejoicing that she is now home.”

Steven Curtis Chapman tweeted: “Welcome home, Elisabeth Elliot ... so thankful for the way her story Through Gates of Splendor & her life inspired me & so many others.”

Details for memorial service are not yet available. In lieu of flowers, the family requested that memorial donations be made to the Christian Worker’s Fellowship Fund in Kansas City, Kansas.

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