Birth, Ordinations, and Obituaries - October 2010

Announcements, October 2010

Birth

Logan Patrick Berg was born on March 31 to parents Eirik Berg and Stephanie Kramer Berg, of Sammamish, WA. This is their first child.

Ordinations

• Brad Campbell, Decatur, AL
• Billy Ray Cooley, Meridian, MS
• Philip Doele, Snellville, GA
• Ronald Felling, Jr., Tontitown, AR
• Andre Marineau, Montreal (French), Quebec
• Terrence Santibanez, Bacolod, Philippines
• Angelita Tabin, Quezon City, Philippines
• Honorio Tabin, Quezon City, Philippines

Obituaries

Marcia H. Demarest, 67, of Bullard, TX, went to be with her Lord and Savior on Sunday, Sept. 19, 2010, in Tyler, TX. She was born Oct. 10, 1942, in Hollywood, FL., to the late Francis and Mary Catherine Read Houghtaling. She had lived in Bullard the past two years, was a housewife and homemaker and a member of the New Covenant Fellowship Church of Tyler, TX. Marcia graciously gave her time and service to the church. She was involved with Women’s Ministry, volunteering her time at services, and serving as a pastor’s wife for many years. Marcia was baptized in the early 1960s.

Marcia is survived by her loving husband, Gary Demarest of Bullard; son, Johnathan Gary Demarest of College Park, MD; two brothers, Read Houghtaling of Bullard and Creig Houghtaling of St. Louis, MO; three sisters, Phyllis Wilson of Bullard, Elaine Hockwald of Ontario, CA, and Laureen Parker of Round Rock, TX.

Gary Demarest officiated at the service of celebration; she was laid to rest in Bullard City Cemetery.

Walter Fleming, almost 86, of Jersey City, NJ, died peacefully on August 7, 2009. He was born on August 10, 1923, in Jersey City, the third of 11 children born to David and Georgiana (McQueary) Fleming.

On April 24, 1947, Walter married the love of his life, Norida Smith, of Jersey City. From that union, three children were born. They attended Grace Communion Fellowship, where he served as a deacon.

Walter attended public schools in Jersey City, and served 2½ years in the U.S. Navy during World War II. After that, he took a job at the U.S. Naval Base in Bayonne, NJ. After retiring from there in the early 1970s, he was employed by Public Service Electric & Gas Company. He retired from there in 1988.

Walter was preceded in death by his son Gary Douglas Fleming, his parents, his brothers Floyd Richard and David Jeffrey; sisters Lillian L. Coleman, Lila Mae Ralph, and Daisy Wyatt.

Walter leaves to cherish his memory his faithful and adoring wife of 62 years; devoted daughter, Rhonda (Fleming) Robinson; son, Barry Fleming; son-in-law, David Robinson; daughter-in-law, Lolita Flagg-Fleming; granddaughters Tracie, Kelli, Jacquelyn and Stephani Robinson; great-granddaughter, Kamaya AH-Keen; brothers Leon and Warren Fleming; brother-in-law John C. Ralph; sisters-in-law Bertha (Smith) Profet, Brenda (Smith) Perkins, and Lillie (Moore) Fleming; brother-in-law, Howard Perkins; and a host of nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.

John Adams of Grace Christian Fellowship officiated at the service. Walter will be missed terribly.

Verna Marie Bockelman Meyer was born on June 9, 1920, at Alma, MO, and departed this life on Sept. 12, 2010 at the age of 90. Verna was the eldest child of Louis Bockelman and Hulda Uppendahl. Verna spent her early years on the family farm near Alma, and in 1925, the family moved to western Kansas. Ten years later, they returned to Missouri and took up residence on a farm south of Higginsville. Verna graduated from Higginsville High School in 1941, and worked for Dr. C. T. Jessell until he was called to military service in 1942. She also worked at the Lake City Defense Plant until February of 1943 when she joined the Women’s Army Corps and served her country at the Headquarters Office at Camp Hood in Texas.

On February 24, 1946, Verna was united in marriage to Raymond C. Meyer at the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Higginsville, MO. They were blessed with three children: Ray, Roger, and Marilyn. The family lived on a Lafayette County farm 10 miles south of Higginsville. In 1960, they moved to Odessa so the children could more easily participate in school activities.

Over the years, Verna worked in a number of different capacities to help support her family, including dental assistant, factory worker, nurses’ assistant, hospitality, and nursing home aid. In 1968, Raymond and Verna built an earth-berm house on the family farm and moved back there. After Raymond died in 1996, Verna stayed on the farm by herself until 1999, when she sold the farm and moved to a lovely little patio home in Blue Springs, MO.

Verna was a woman of faith, and always put others before herself. She loved others and served them in the love of Christ. She lived out what is written in Philippians 2:3-4: ^“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Verna became a member of the Radio Church of God in 1966 and was a faithful member down through the years to the present. Locally, she was a member of Living Grace Fellowship in Kansas City, MO.

In November 2006, Verna was stricken with a spinal tumor that paralyzed her from the waist down. It was necessary then to have nursing home care, and Verna became a resident of Monterey Park Nursing Center in Independence, where she lived until her death. Verna was a four-time cancer survivor, and valiantly fought back each time. Complications from colon surgery, however, brought the final chapter of her godly life on this earth to a close.

Verna was preceded in death by an infant sister, LaVona; by a great-granddaughter, Ashley Conklin; and by her husband, Raymond. Verna is survived by her three children: Ray and his wife Carol of Kansas City; Roger and his wife Laurel of Columbus, OH; and Marilyn Meyer Moots and her husband Randy of Blue Springs; by two grandsons, two granddaughters, five great-grandsons, and two great-granddaughters; also by her brothers Lorenz, Melvin, Louis, and Marcus Bockelman, and her sisters Juanita Trigg and Naomi Foster. Verna will be greatly missed by family and friends.            

Jean Higgins Van Landuyt, 89, died July 19, 2010, at Hospice Home Care in Little Rock, AR. She was born July 7, 1921, in her maternal grandparent’s home on the Roba Ranch near Paulina, OR.

She became a member of the Radio Church of God in Big Sandy, TX, in 1953 and lived in New Mexico, Oregon and Alaska without being able to attend a RCG church. In 1960 she moved with her husband and family to Pritchett, TX, near Gladewater. There she became active in the local congregation and Imperial School, and befriended many Ambassador College students for over 15 years before the family relocated to southern and then central Oregon. They traveled over the Cascades to Salem or Eugene for Holy Day services until a church was established in Bend, OR, where she was considered its "church mother" until moving to Dardanelle, AR, to be closer to two of her daughters’ families following her husband’s death. There she became a much loved member of the Russellville congregation, now the Oakland Christian Fellowship. 

She loved people and enjoyed gardening, sewing, quilting, volunteering for community services and taking care of children. She was preceded in death by her husband, Russel H. Van Landuyt; two sons, Jal Lewis and Alan Timothy Van Landuyt; a granddaughter, Sheila Van Landuyt; three brothers and a sister.

Survivors include a son and daughter-in-law, Larry and Judy Van Landuyt of Paradise, CA; three daughters and two sons-in-law, Linnea Van Landuyt Haas of St. Helens, OR, Wendy and Bert Wells of Dardanelle, AR, and Deena and Dan Jacobson of Oklahoma; 13 grandchildren; 17 great-grandchildren; and a special gentleman friend and travel companion, George Holt of Dardanelle.

The family held a Celebration of Life service July 27, 2010, at the Oakland Christian Fellowship with Pastor William Condley officiating. Burial will take place in the family cemetery on the Van Landuyt Ranch near Hampton Buttes, OR, in spring 2011.