Alumni Obituaries – March 2015
Rev. Donald J. Davitz, (M.Div. 2002), 59, a resident of Montgomery, passed away on November 21, 2014. He was preceded in death by his parents Donald and Dorothy Davitz and in-laws Frank and Mary Gothard. Born in Columbus, Ohio, Don graduated from West High School (1973) and The Ohio State University in 1978 with a degree in Education and taught 1 year at Westmoor Junior High School in Columbus. He joined the U S Air Force and served 20 years as a B52 pilot and taught at several schools at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery. He earned his Masters of Business from Central Michigan University. Don was a member of Aldersgate UMC for 22 years. He graduated seminary with Masters of Divinity & Theology degrees and served the Alabama West Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church as he pastored at Ramer UMC, Pinckard UMC, Frisco City UMC, Crawford UMC and Ebenezer UMC. Don will be missed by his wife, Cheryl Gothard Davitz; son and daughter-in-law, Zane and Hannah Davitz; son, Andrew Davitz; godson, Phillip Lane; uncles, aunts, cousins and lots of friends and co-workers.
Kathleen Elizabeth Bear Demaray, (MRE, 1948), 91, wife of Dr. Donald E. Demaray, passed away February 17, 2015. She was born on April 8, 1923 in Fresno, California to the late Grover Howard and Mabel Raucher Bear. Kathleen was a retired alumni secretary for Asbury Theological Seminary. She was a member of the Wilmore Free Methodist Church, a member of the Martha Jones Foundation Daycare Board where she helped build the Martha Jones Daycare building, a member of the JC Public Library Board helping with the funding of the library. Kathleen was also a member of the Wilmore Women’s Club and the Women’s Mission Fellowship International. She is survived by one son, James (Charlene) Demaray, two daughters, Cherith (Paul) Davenport and Elyse (Jim Palmieri) Demaray, four grandchildren Matthew (Alyson) Davenport, Shawn (Amy) Demaray, Kathleen (Andrew Cobble) Davenport and Christopher Demaray, three great grandchildren, Ayden Demaray, Brandelyn Davenport and Kaylee Reynolds and a host of other family and friends to mourn her passing.
Edgar “Buddy” Henry Gaines III, (M.Div., 1968), 77, called Spartanburg, SC home. His family were church people but he only heard the Gospel as a teen and received Christ as his Savior. He surprised his family by choosing to go to Asbury College, now Asbury University, a small Christian College in Kentucky. He met Martie Ewan at Asbury College and became engaged, but then God put a barrier to those plans by calling him to go as a single young man to Hong Kong for 2 years with the Oriental Missionary Society to evangelize and plant churches. In 1960 he reluctantly accepted the call.
He studied Cantonese for 3 months and joined a team of 5 Chinese men who did door to door evangelism and began churches for the new believers. At the end of two years he was invited by Bob Pierce of World Vision to move down the coast to Macau to help the refugees coming out of China in 1062. He began a home for 40 children who were separated from their families and established other relief type programs.
In 1964 he returned to the States, married Martie and began seminary studies. During seminary years they pastored two small churches and were blessed with two baby girls.
Upon graduation from Asbury Theological Seminary in 1968 he was invited to return to Hong Kong with his family. Along with further Cantonese studies he became involved in youth ministries.After 4 years they returned to the States having added a son to their family. During this one year furlough Buddy attended the January 1974 Evangelism Explosion Clinic at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, and it was like he put on a new skin. Effective person-to-person discipleship and multiplication of the Gospel! Returning to Hong Kong, blessed with another baby son, he began putting this new training into practice. He formed an alliance with Tom Stebbins, a missionary pastor. He trained Tom and they formed a couple of teams and began Evangelism Explosion (EE) in Hong Kong. This caught the attention of the EE leadership in Ft. Lauderdale who asked if Buddy would like to introduce EE to all the nations of Asia. OMS agreed to loan the family to EE. Several issues arose which made it seem more practical for the family to stay in Ft. Lauderdale at EE headquarters and Buddy to communicate overseas by means of emerging technology and making frequent trips to interface with national ministries. He made contacts with pastors in each nation to explain the ministry. Then leaders were chosen and trained, the materials were translated and began being used in a church. In about 2 years, that church could train a group of pastors who would then train people in their church. The goal was also to become self-supporting, thus an indigenous ministry. This was the process he repeated in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Egypt, Israel, Burma, China, and Mongolia. When he met Gary Letchworth in Pakistan he asked Gary to assist him West Asia. They became great friends sharing and reaching Asia. In 1992 he went to Siberia, Russia. The next year Buddy met Nicolay Revtov who was VP of his university and a disenchanted Communist. When Buddy shared the Gospel with him, he readily received the free gift of eternal life, as did his family. In a short time he left the university to assist Buddy in reaching all the nations of Eurasia. In 1996, virtually all the nations of the world had been reached and then they needed to be strengthened and urged to reach various people groups.It was a ministry he never tired of and even when disease played games with his mind he still wanted to be teaching EE clinics and visiting the nations to help and encourage. Not a ministry or a life he ever imagined but God saw his heart and led him each step of the way, opening the path before him.
Surviving him are his wife Martie, 4 children: Jodie Kreisel (Mark), Angie Lawerence (Eric), Mark Gaines-Heany (Judy), and Matthew and 14 grandchildren: Meagan, Emily, Jessica, Jacob, Daniel, Steven, Kathyrn, Julianne, Rachel, Michael, Taylor, Esse, Aiden and Zoe.
Rev. Leonard William Gamber , (M.Div., 1979), 78, passed away on Sunday, February 15, 2015 in Avon Park, Florida. He was born in 1936 to Ruth and Harry Gamber in Springfield, MO. He graduated from Wayne Michigan High School in 1954, from Michigan State University in 1958, entered the Air Force as a 1st Lieutenant, and served as a Captain before leaving the Air Force and becoming a District Executive with the Boy Scouts of America serving in Michigan. In 1957 he married Betty Peterson and they had three children who survive Leonard. They are Lori and she is married to Gary Pollitz of MI, and they have four children: Brittany, Austin, Chris, and Makaela, then Phillip and wife Cheryl , Nathan, Meghan, and Grace also in MI. Dan and his wife Jackie, Ben, and Ellen of TN. In 1967, Leonard married Joanne Disbrow in Henderson, MI and two step-sons were added to the family; Randall and Vickie Disbrow of MI and Daria, Danette, and Kent; Richard Disbrow also from MI. In 1976 Leonard heard God’s call to full time ministry so he entered Asbury Seminary in Wilmore, KY. Upon graduating in 1979, he was appointed to La Porte and Mapleton United Methodist Church until 1982 when he was appointed to 1st United Methodist Church in Corunna, MI. He was very active in Kiwanis while there and was a Lieutenant Governor and President of Shiawassee Ministerial Association, and after eight years in Corunna he was sent to Asbury United Methodist Church in Flint, MI and served there until 1996 when he was moved to Croswell Michigan United Methodist Church. In 1999, Leonard and Joanne retired to Shoreline Lake near Corunna, MI and in winters to Avon Park Camp Association in FL, a Christian community of many denominations where Len served on the board as Community Relations Director. He did pastoral visitations summers for Swartz Creek MI United Methodist Church until 2007 and was still active with Emmaus. Lens hobby of making bowls of several different kinds of wood was shared with many people. He and Joanne were active as “Celebrating Marriage” leaders and led many weekends of the program for many United Methodist Churches in Michigan. He is survived by his wife Joanne of Avon Park, FL, his family, and many friends.
Rev. Robert Bruce Haslam, (B.Div., 1954), 86, from Hermitage, TN passed from earth to Heaven on January 28, 2015 after a brief illness. Born May 13, 1928 in Seattle, WA, he was a fourth generation Free Methodist clergyman and lovingly dedicated to the church that he served in several capacities for more than 50 years. He pastored churches in Washington, Michigan and Indiana. In 1960, he took his young family to the Philippines as missionaries, where he became director of Light and Life Bible College in Butuan City, Mindanao. He was an executive in the World Missions Department of the Free Methodist Church for 22 years, and served as editor of Light and Life Magazine for 10 years. During his tenure as editor, the magazine twice received the award as Denominational Magazine of the Year. Rev. Haslam was founding editor of In Touch Magazine for World Relief and traveled the globe ministering to many in refugee camps in Asia. His ministry also took him to Central and Southern African countries, South America and the Caribbean. He was an ordained elder in the Pacific Northwest Conference of the Free Methodist Church. After official retirement, Haslam mentored aspiring writers for The Christian Writers Guild and edited books for a Christian book publisher. He was a prolific Christian journalist and had articles published in more than 70 religious publications. Bob Haslam received a BA degree from Seattle Pacific University in 1950 and Master of Divinity degree from Asbury Theological Seminary in 1954. While there, he met and married the love of his life, Frances (Todd) Haslam. Rev. Haslam was a life member of the Evangelical Press Association, a member of National Religious Broadcasters and Kiwanis Club. Bob, known for his “punny” sense of humor, was known best for being a gentle, kind, generous and thoughtful man of God, loving romantic husband, and wonderful father, grand and great-grandfather. He loved music and in his youth, studied piano under the Seattle Symphony Orchestra’s pianist who encouraged him to pursue a career in classical piano. This was his dream until God called him into the ministry. Music became his hobby and he began to write music and sing his own hymns in church services. Bob is survived by his wife of 61 years, Frances (Todd) Haslam; sister, Irene Ekkens (Al) of Ridgecrest, CA; son, Daniel Haslam (Cynthia) of Mt. Juliet, TN; daughter, Karis Haslam Merrick (Byron) of Baltimore, MD; four grandchildren, Rev. David Haslam (Jessica) and Marcus Haslam, Philip and Sheridan Merrick, and two great-grandsons, Micah and Rowan Haslam. Bob was preceded in death by his parents, Rev. Oliver and Rachel Haslam, Seattle, WA; brother, Ed Haslam (Mabel) and sister, Lilian Burbank (Keith), both of Seattle.