Alumni Obituaries- October 2015
Rev. Paul F. Crockett, (B.Div., 1959), 85, was born April 8th, 1929 and passed away on the 24th of January, 2015. He is survived by his wife, Bonnie.
Dr. Edwin Williams Kilbourne, (B.Div., 1944), 97, was born in Tokyo, Japan, October 4th, 1917, and raised as the child and grandchild of missionaries to China, Korea, and Japan.
Growing up, he attended schools in Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, and Los Angeles, and then attended Asbury College and Asbury Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. He also did graduate studies at the University of Kentucky. He received Honorary Doctorate Degrees from Seoul Theological Seminary, in Seoul South Korea, and from Asbury College, his alma mater.
A lifelong Methodist, he and his wife Edna Martin (“Nanoo”) went to the mission field after seminary and his graduate work, serving with what was then called the Oriental Missionary Society, today it is the One Mission Society headquartered in Greenwood, Indiana. They served faithfully in China and Korea (mostly Korea) and then in Greenwood in an administrative capacity until his retirement in 1988. Most of his life he was a dedicated professor and missionary pastor in Korea. He was given the Presidency of Seoul Theological Seminary until a Korean leader could be trained and placed as the new President of this prestigious school. He served OMS as field Director for Korea until his return to the United States and to Greenwood where he continued to serve as Vice President at large, a position which took he and Edna across the world, visiting, leading, and training OMS missionaries. He continued in the service of the mission in his retirement, writing three books, two volumes on the history of the Oriental Missionary Society, and one on the land of Tibet. In their final years, they continued to live in Greenwood and then moved to Minden, Louisiana. In 1992 they moved to Manasota Key, in Englewood, on the southwest coast of Florida to be near the sea, which he loved almost as much as he loved Edna. In 2001 they moved to the Good Samaritan Village in Kissimmee, Florida.
Beth Beckelhymer Stewart, (M.R.E., 1962), 88, (November 09, 1926 – August 29, 2015) died peacefully at Cristwood Nursing Center in Shoreline, Washington, on August 29, 2015. She was born in Prosser, Washington and grew up in Prosser and Portland, Oregon. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Whitworth College (Spokane, Washington) and a M.R.E. degree from Asbury Theological Seminary (Kentucky). She taught school in Portland, Oregon, and was a missionary teacher in the high school at Red Bird Mission (Kentucky), at a Bible College in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, and as a Bible and Christian ministry teacher at a seminary in South Africa. Beth married Rev. E. Eugene Stewart later in her life. She and her husband retired to Seattle in 1991 and then to the Warm Beach Senior Community (Stanwood) in 2001. She was predeceased by her husband of 29 years (Eugene Stewart) and four siblings. She is survived by one brother, Ed Beckelhymer and his family; other nieces and nephews and their families; her step-daughter and husband, Judi and Dan Fortune; 2 step-granddaughters and husbands; and five step-great-grandchildren. Donations Information Memorials may be given to Warm Beach Camping Ministries, 20800 Marine Drive; Stanwood, WA 98292 [800-228-6724] or Warm Beach Free Methodist Church.
Beth & I were room-mates 1959 – 1961. I praise God for the privilege of knowing Beth. A student of the Word, a very good artist, delightful sense of humor, and a woman who loved God and her husband. I will miss her lovely Christmas letters. NL