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The Rev. Dr. Ernest R. Babel, (MDiv., 1967), 73, passed away peacefully at his home in Ashland, Va., surrounded by his family, October 18, 2014. Ernie was born in Batavia, N.Y., and was preceded in death by his parents, Richard and Irma. He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Roberta Ann; four children, Beth (James), Gregory, Philip, Sara (Dave); his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He is also survived by his brothers, Charles, Gary and Timothy; and sisters, Margery, Judith and Sharon; his nieces and nephews. Ernie began his formal education at Elim Bible Institute. He then earned his undergraduate degree from Roberts Wesleyan College, his Masters of Theology and Masters of Divinity from Asbury Theological Seminary, and his Doctorate of Ministry from Emory University. Ernie began his ministry in 1969, first as the pastor of Allegany Free Methodist Church, followed by Gerry Free Methodist Church, in his home state of New York. Moving to Virginia in 1976, he served Enon United Methodist Church (Mechanicsville), Smith’s Grove UMC (Petersburg), New Hope UMC (Fredericksburg) and St. Peter’s UMC (Montpelier). In retirement, Ernie served for seven fulfilling years as Minister with Seniors and Homebound for Shady Grove UMC (Mechanicsville), where he continued to serve until his recent diagnosis of late-stage cancer. Ernie was easily recognized in any one of his trademark hats while visiting throughout the community. He was a highly respected man of many talents. He enjoyed woodworking, repairing farm machinery and automobiles, refinishing furniture and remodeling homes and churches. His work ethic was rooted in the farming community where he was raised. From throwing hay to constructing concrete-stave silos, he learned to work hard, pay attention, and help others. In addition to these fine qualities, he was a caring and dedicated father, a true foundation for his family. A friend to all who knew him, Ernie will be greatly missed.
Dr. Curtis Allen Chambers, (M.Div., 1950), 90, was born in Damascus, Ohio, on Sept. 24, 1924. He passed away on Jan. 3, 2015, in Terre Haute, surrounded by his family. He was preceded in death by his parents and brother, Richard. An active clergyman for 60 years, before his retirement as a minister of the United Methodist Church he served as a pastor of local churches in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Louisiana and Tennessee, as a church curriculum and magazine editor, and as a church communications executive in Dayton, Chicago, and Nashville, and briefly as a college professor in Cleveland.
He married Anna June Winn in 1946 and they were parents of four children: David Lloyd Chambers and wife Julie of Sherman Oaks, Calif.; Curtis Allen Chambers II and wife Renae Bugge of Placerville, Calif.; Deborah Ann Dayton and husband Dan of Paris, Ill.; and Charles Cloyde Chambers and wife Colleen of Dayton, Ohio. In addition to his wife and children, he is also survived by seven grandchildren, Peter Dayton, John Dayton, Cecily Chambers, Abigail Chambers, Carrie Chambers, Megan Chambers, and Cayden Chambers.
He graduated from Goshen High School in Damascus, Ohio (1942) and earned five degrees in higher education: Th.B., Malone University (1946); A.B., Indiana Wesleyan University (1947); B.D. (Th.M.), Asbury Theological Seminary (1950); S.T.M. (Th.M.), Temple University (1955); S.T.D. (Th.D.), Temple University (1960). In addition he was awarded an honorary D.D. by Lebanon Valley College in 1967. He was ordained a minister in 1954 in the Evangelical United Brethren Church which eventually merged with Methodists to form the United Methodist Church in 1968. He served as a member of the Commission on Church Union and was co-editor of the Plan of Union and, later, as co-editor of the first Book of Discipline for the newly formed United Methodist Church in 1970. In addition to his denominational service, Chambers was an officer for numerous ecumenical organizations including: the National Council of Churches, the Religious Communication Congress and the World Association for Christian Communication. He retired from service in the Louisiana Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church to Nashville, Tenn., in 1990 and he and his wife then moved to Terre Haute in 2004, settling at Westminster Village, a retirement community. Since then he has served as interim minister at Rosedale United Methodist Church, Northside United Methodist Church, and assisted with vespers services each Sunday evening at Westminster Village.
Curtis and his wife enjoyed traveling, having visited all 50 States, many European countries, China, Hong Kong, and Japan. They especially enjoyed traveling with their children and their families.
June J. Clendaniel, (MAR, 1978), 63, of Dover, passed away on Sunday, Nov. 2, 2014, at Emeritus Senior Living. June was born on June 23, 1951 in Dover. She attended Allentown Bible Institute and Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree. June is survived by her two brothers, Harold and Roy..
Reverend Thomas W. Ditto, (B.Div., 1952), 88, husband of Frances “Fran” Miller Ditto for 68 years, went to be with his Lord, Thursday, November 20, 2014 at Wesley Village. He was born February 11, 1926 in Vine Grove, KY. Rev. Ditto was a United Methodist Pastor for over 41 years and served in WWII with the US Navy. At the age of 19 he was called upon to lead a memorial service aboard his ship in the South Pacific for the death of President Roosevelt. This began his life of ministry. Other survivors include four sons: Rev. Dennis (Judy) Ditto of Perrysburg, OH, Dr. David Ditto of Nicholasville, KY, Dale (Louisa) Ditto of Lexington, KY and Douglas (Karen) Ditto of Danville, KY; 14 grandchildren: Jessica, Jenny, Lauren, Lana, Lindsay, Lydia, William, Stewart, David, Jack, Daniel, Rachel, Emma and Andrew; 10 great-grandchil-dren; and one brother, William (Paula) Ditto of Louisville, KY. He was preceded in death by a brother, James David Ditto, who gave his life as a pilot in WWII.
Reverend Floyd R. Dunlap, (MDiv., 1951), 89, died Nov. 19, 2014, at Hutchinson Regional Medical Center. He was born March 6, 1925 in Haviland, Kan., the son of Oren and Mabel Hoskins Dunlap. He was a graduate of Haviland Academy, Friends University, and Asbury Seminary. He was a recorded minister with the Friends Church. He served as principal at multiple Christian schools. He served in the Pacific during WWII as a medic with the Marine Corp. He married Esther Moon on June 22, 1947, in Emporia. She died in Oct. of 2002. He married Norma Quick in 2004. She died in 2007. He married Hope Kinser in 2010. She survives. Additional survivors include: two daughters, Marsha Tarr (Kent) of Watsonville, Calif. and Cynthia Stites of Hutchinson; and two grandsons, Paul Kenney (Brandi) of Shawnee, and Mark Stites of Hutchinson. He was preceded in death by his parents; a brother, David Dunlap; and a sister, Ruth Jackman.
Margie Alma Miller Lewis, (MA, 1948), 91, widow of Dr. Ralph L. Lewis, passed away on Tuesday morning, December 23, 2014 at her residence in Wilmore, Kentucky. She was born on May 31, 1923 in Laurelville, Ohio to her parents, the late James O. and Florence Brigner Miller and was preceded in death by her dear younger sister, MaryEllen Miller Malone of South Rockwood, Michigan.
Surviving are her three sons, Gregg A. {Deborah} Lewis of Rome, Georgia, Mark E. {Angela} Lewis and Mack A. Lewis, all of Wilmore. Margie was grandmother to nine Lewises and three grandchildren-in-law, Andrew, Matthew {Emily}, Lisette, Benjamin, Jonathan {Jessica}, Frederica, Ivey March {Taylor}, Guinevere, and Emma Rose, as well as two great-granddaughters, Annabelle Grace Lewis and (a very-soon-to-be-born) Baby Girl Lewis. Her loving and much-loved extended family included many in-laws and large numbers of nieces, nephews, great-nieces and nephews, and even more great-great nieces and nephews in Michigan, as well as numerous cousins in Ohio.
Margie grew up in Laurelville, Circleville and Columbus, Ohio before leaving home after high school to attend Owosso Bible College in Owosso, Michigan where she met and married (on May 29, 1943) Ralph L. Lewis who would be her husband for 53 years. Margie also attended Central Michigan University before graduating from Asbury College (1946) and Asbury Theological Seminary (M.A., 1948) in Wilmore, Kentucky.
As a young wife and mother Margie served and ministered as an active pastor’s wife during Ralph’s years in the pastorate of Evangelical United Brethren churches in Chesaning, Carleton, Ann Arbor and Ogden, Michigan and Derby, Kansas. She and her family then spent two years living in the Oklahoma City area when Ralph taught at Bethany Nazarene College prior to accepting a position of Professor of Preaching at Asbury Theological Seminary where he taught from 1961 until his death from cancer in 1996.
From 1963 until 1970, Margie served as the Alumni Secretary at Asbury Theological Seminary, and she was an active member, and sometimes officer, in the Seminary Faculty Wives organization throughout the 35 years of her husband’s tenure at ATS.
Margie was a committed and loyal member of the Wilmore United Methodist Church for more than 50 years—and served in a variety of elected offices. Even in her home-bound years she participated in telephone prayer chains and helped organize such things as meals for out-of-town visitors at church funerals.
Though she much preferred the domesticity, familiarity, and comforts of home, she graciously endured the wanderlust of a husband and three sons who craved travel and outdoor adventure. The family camped, often in primitive conditions, from California to New England, Florida to Alaska, visiting 47 states by the time her boys left home.
While she taught her three sons how to set a formal dinner table and helped make sure they knew their way around a kitchen and what to do with a washing machine, those who knew her best understood how much she would have also enjoyed having a daughter or two to raise. So, she eagerly welcomed her two daughter-in-laws, Debi and Angela. In addition, she enjoyed the fact that her granddaughters outnumbered her grandsons five to four, and took real delight in knowing her first two great-grandchildren were girls. She greatly loved all of her grandchildren but it was a special joy when Mark and Angela returned from St. Croix and moved into the house next door to her. She was also thankful that four of her five out-of-town grandchildren graduated from Asbury U. and spent their college years living nearby in Wilmore.
In 1980 Margie authored and published a best-selling (and still selling) book, The Hurting Parent: Help and Hope for Parents of Prodigals. She traveled and spoke on the subject of her book for a number of years. And she has continued to encourage and counsel the parents of prodigals around the country through correspondence and by telephone since the original publication of the book and up until the final months and weeks of her life.
The Reverend Elton Eugene (Gene) Stewart, (B.Div., 1956), 93, died on October 30, 2014. Born in Daisy, Washington, Gene was the oldest of three children who were all raised on his grandfather’s homestead. He married Minerva Todd on June 6, 1941. He received a BA from Seattle Pacific College, a divinity degree from Asbury Theological Seminary, and an MA from Southern Illinois University. He was ordained in the Free Methodist Church and served as pastor in Chewelah, Washington; Priest River, Idaho; and at the Rainier Avenue Church in Seattle, and as interim pastor at the Burien Free Methodist in Burien, Washington. He taught Bible and theology at Central College (KS) and Greenville College (IL). Gene and Minerva also served as missionaries in Yeotmal, India. Following Minerva’s death, he renewed a friendship with Beth Beckelhymer, and they were married December 28, 1985. He accompanied Beth to South Africa to teach at the Evangelical Seminary of Southern Africa for Beth’s last missionary term. They retired to their home in Seattle and enjoyed traveling, visiting relatives, and worshiping at the Rainier Avenue Free Methodist Church until they moved to the Warm Beach Senior Community in 2001. Highlights of his life-long ministry include serving as a soloist on a two-person, around the world, evangelistic trip under the Slavic Gospel Mission, loving and making friends with many people in each of the churches he served, touching the lives of many students who took his classes, experiencing the blessings of cross-cultural missionary work, walking the streets for Nightwatch, and becoming friends with “everybody” in the Senior Community. He also enjoyed the role of “patriarch” of his family. He is survived by his wife Beth Beckelhymer Stewart, MA ‘60, daughter and son in law, two granddaughters, including Cindy Fortune Spencer, M.Div. ’94, five grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.
Rev. Dr. Claude Tucker, (B.D., 1952), 89, passed away Saturday, January 3, 2015, in Atlanta, Ga. He was the husband of the late Gazelle Krentz Tucker, formerly of Ophelia. He also was predeceased by a daughter, Sandra Tucker Boswell. He is survived by a daughter, Dr. Cynthia “Cindy” Rust, and her husband, Dr. George Rust, both of Atlanta, Georgia; a son, Dennis L. Tucker of Urbanna; three grandchildren; two nephews; and one niece.
Rev. Tucker served Methodist and Presbyterian churches in Indiana and Florida. He was the founding pastor of St. John’s United Methodist Church in Sarasota, Fla. He was the supervising pastor at St. John’s and Grace Presbyterian churches in San Carolos Park, Fla., and helped build their first buildings. Rev. Tucker was a graduate of Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky, and Asbury Theological Seminary, also in Wilmore. He was ordained into the Methodist Church in 1951. In 1966 he began serving two Presbyterian mission churches in Lee County in Ft. Myers, Fla. He also served the First Presbyterian Church in Miramar, Fla., as well as the First Presbyterian Church in Crestview, Fla., which supported him in his attainment of a Doctor of Ministry in 1988.
Rev. and Mrs. Tucker enjoyed retirement in Crestview, Fla., and Ophelia. While in the seminary, Rev. Tucker sang in a sacred quartet that toured the country. He maintained a lifelong interest in music and was later a member of the “Bay Tones” of Kilmarnock. He also had an interest in history, politics and philosophy. He was one of the earliest American ministers to recognize the importance of the Siegel Theory of Opposites. Claude Tucker always loved and supported his family in all endeavors, especially education, professional development, and careers. He supported Mrs. Tucker as she obtained a second bachelor’s degree in her 40s. He supported his daughters in medical degrees and his son in music degrees. Numerous congregations will remember his caring, energetic, and true service. May his memory be eternal.