USA > Ohio > The Church of the Brethren in northeastern Ohio > Part 24
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EDWIN C. PETRY, son of Chester H. and Roxie E. (Jones) Petry, was born in Berthold, North Dakota, on June 16, 1909. There he was baptized in June 1916. He attended Manchester College for two terms. Called to the ministry in the West Nimishillen church in 1941, he was ordained there in 1942 and later was ordained to the eldership. He married Marjorie E. Mohler on January 22, 1942. Brother Petry served the West Nimishillen church from 1940 until January 1961. Then followed a specialized course of training in clinical and pastoral care. At the present time he is a chaplain in the Massillon State Hospital, Massillon, Ohio. His home is in North Canton, Ohio.
ELDEN M. PETRY, son of Chester H. and Roxie E. (Jones) Petry, was born in Berthold, North Dakota, on June 16, 1909. He was baptized in the Berthold congregation in October 1918. He attended Manchester College for two years. Ruth Lillian Beardshaw became his wife on June 21, 1935; they are the parents of a boy and a girl. Brother Petry was called to the ministry July 18, 1931, in the Springfield, Ohio, congregation, where he was advanced on October 26, 1932. He was ordained to the eldership in East Nimishillen in October 1938. He served as part-time pastor at East Nimishillen from August 1934 to October 1947. His ministry at Anderson, Indiana, has extended from November 1, 1947, to the present. He was a member of the Northeastern Ohio district mission board from 1945 to 1947.
RONALD D. PETRY was born July 6, 1934, in Pitsburg, Ohio. His parents are Brother and Sister Wilmer A. Petry. He was graduated from the East high school in Akron, Ohio; Man- chester College (A.B. degree, 1956); and Bethany Biblical Seminary (B.D. degree, 1960). Licensed to the ministry in the Akron Eastwood congregation in 1951, he was ordained there on June 5, 1955. From 1958 to 1959 he was the intern pastor of the Walnut Grove congregation, Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Since 1960 he has been in the Kokomo, Indiana, church. On August 16, 1953, he was married to Beverly Tobias; they have two children.
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WILMER A. PETRY, son of Chester H. and Roxie E. (Jones) Petry, was born near Lone Tree, North Dakota, on June 27, 1907. In the summer of 1916 he was baptized in the Berthold congregation. Having been called to the ministry at Trevilians, Virginia, in August 1924, he was advanced in the Wheatville congregation in August 1926 and ordained to the eldership at Pitsburg, Ohio, in July 1932. He married Edna Lucile Brower on November 20, 1929; they are the parents of four children. Brother Petry's pastoral engage- ments have been Hamilton, Ohio (part-time, July 1926 to December 1927) ; Pitsburg, Ohio (full-time, April 1928 to September 1932, and part-time, September 1932 to April 1934) ; Pleasant Valley, Ohio (part- time, September 1932 to August 1934) ; Poplar Grove, Ohio (part- time, April to August 1934) ; East- wood, Akron, Ohio (full-time, from September 1934 to August 31, 1962) ; Yellow Creek, Indiana (1962 -). Brother Petry was district moder- ator three times, assistant moder- Wilmer Petry ator, a member of the service committee, a member of the board of Christian education for two terms, and a member of the district program committee, the promotional committee, and the ministerial committee. He has been on the Standing Com- mittee four times. A victim of polio in his youth, Brother Petry spent several years under medical care and was unable to pur- sue formal education after graduation from the Louisa high school in Virginia.
GEORGE W. PHILLIPS, son of L. F. and Alice (Miller) Phillips, was born December 29, 1893, in Goshen, Indiana. He was baptized in the Rock Run, Indiana, congregation in 1907. Brother Phillips attended Manchester College (B.A., 1917), Bethany Seminary (B.D., 1935), Bexley Hall Seminary, and Indiana University. He was united in marriage with Gertrude Schwalm on May 26, 1917; one daughter was born to them.
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The Rock Run congregation called him to the ministry on December 2, 1917, and the Walton, Indiana, congregation ordained him to the eldership on January 1, 1923. He served as the summer pastor of the Rock Run church in 1920 and was the part-time pastor of the Walton church from 1921 to 1926. His full-time pastoral engagements have been Danville, Ohio (1926-1935) ; Elkhart City, Indiana (1935 to 1950) ; Bear Creek, Ohio (1950-1960) ; La Place, Illinois (1960 - ). In Northeastern Ohio, Brother Phillips was the writing clerk in 1929 and a member of the board of Christian education from 1928 to 1935 (chairman, 1930-1935). He has shared freely in the activities of the other districts in which he has held pastorates. Brother Phillips taught in the Indiana public schools for seven years.
A. B. PIERSON assumed the pastorate of the Olivet church in Northeastern Ohio in July 1962. Previous pastoral engage- ments have been North Webster, Indiana (1955-1957) ; Pleasant View, Indiana (1957-1958) ; Ashland Dickey, Ohio (1958-1961) ; Girard, Illinois (1961-1962). He was a student in the Bethany Bible Training School, was graduated from Manchester College with a B.S. degree in 1958, and has done additional work in the Oberlin Graduate School of Theology. From 1959 to 1961 he was the pastoral adviser on the children's work cabinet in Northeastern Ohio. Mrs. Pierson is the former Alene L. Light; three daughters comprise their family. Brother Pierson was ordained in 1955 in the English Prairie church, Middle Indiana.
A. B. Pierson
J. Perry Prather
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J. PERRY PRATHER was born on November 2, 1893, near Oologah, Oklahoma, the son of Thomas and Cora Prather. Hope L. Deardorff became his wife on August 11, 1921; they had two children. He was baptized in the North Bethel church near Mound City, Missouri, on August 14, 1905, called to the ministry by his home church on October 24, 1914, and ordained to the eldership by the Ashland First church, Ohio, on January 27, 1928. He has served in five full-time pastorates: Ashland (August 25, 1925, to November 12, 1933); Dayton First, Ohio (November 15, 1933, to October 30, 1944); Detroit First, Michigan (November 1, 1944, to November 15, 1949) ; Waterloo First, Iowa (November 18, 1949, to December 1, 1957) ; Ashland First (December 6, 1957, to the present). As a student he served two churches: Conway Springs, Kansas, out of McPher- son College, and the Bethany, Connecticut, Congregational church for three years while in Yale. McPherson College granted him an A.B. degree in 1920 and a D.D. in 1947; from 1915 to 1918 he studied in Bethany Biblical Seminary; in 1925 Yale University granted him a B.D. degree. Additional study has been carried on through University of Michigan extension seminars and University of Iowa seminars. In a district capacity he has been active in many phases of the church's work. For ten years he was vice-president of the Ohio Council of Religious Education and for four years was a member of the Dayton board of education. In 1939 he was an official observer at the World Conference of Christian Youth at Amsterdam, Holland. For many years he was an executive officer of the pastors' advisory section of the International Council of Religious Education. He has traveled extensively in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Europe. It is his in- tent to retire from the pastoral ministry in the autumn of 1963.
JAMES QUINTER was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 1, 1816. In 1824 the family moved to Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, where father and son worked in the iron mills. After his father died, the boy took up the responsibility of assisting in supporting the family. Converted in 1831, he was baptized in the Coventry church, Pennsylvania. He was elected to the ministry in 1838 and ordained to the eldership in 1856. Brother Quinter taught school for a number of years in his
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native state and at one time was an examiner for the public schools. His unusual ability as a preacher brought him many calls from his own and adjoining states. He was known as the boy preacher, and God so blessed his ministry that large numbers were added to the church through his preaching. In 1842 he received a call to locate in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, where the members of the church bought and presented him with a small farm. He brought his mother and sister with her three boys to this farm, where, by teaching and farming, he made a modest living. His ministry in Fayette County was greatly blessed of God. At least sixty persons were received into the church fellowship during the first six months. On September 17, 1850, he married Ann Moser; to them was born one daughter. Seven years later his wife died. In 1855 he was the assistant to Elder Henry Kurtz, the writing clerk of the Annual Conference. Brother Kurtz was so impressed with Brother Quinter that he invited him to become the assistant editor of the Gospel Visitor. Brother Quinter accepted the appointment and in the spring of 1856 moved to Poland, Ohio. In June 1857 the office of the Gospel Visitor was moved to Columbiana. Both families also moved to the village. Brother Quinter continued in editorial work without a break for thirty-two years until his death. Three and a half years after the death of his first wife he was united in marriage to Fannie Studebaker. Two daughters were born to them.
In 1873 Elder Quinter became the sole proprietor of the Gospel Visitor and the Christian Family Companion; in 1876 these were consolidated with the Pilgrim and issued under the name of the Primitive Christian, published at Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. In 1883 the Brethren at Work and the Primitive Christian were united and the Gospel Messenger was the result. Elder Quinter was the editor of the consolidated publications until his death. He was called upon many times to defend the doctrines of the gospel, as believed and practiced by the church, in public debates. Two of these public discussions were published: the Quinter-McConnell and the Quinter-Snyder debates; these books had a large sale among our people. In 1867 he completed the compilation of the Brethren's Hymn Book, and in 1886 he published Trine Immersion. The lack of educational opportunities in the church and his own struggle
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to obtain an education gave him a desire to see schools established in the church. Buildings erected at New Vienna, Ohio, for an academy were offered for sale and purchased by the Brethren as suitable for a school. It was opened in 1861 and continued for three years, then was closed because of conditions created by the Civil War. We are indebted to Brother Quinter for the advancement of education in the church. He later served as president of Juniata College from 1878 to 1888. He was during his time the leading evangelist in the Church of the Brethren. His life was one of piety and was spiritually of the highest type. God blessed him and made him a blessing to all. He died on his knees in prayer during the North Manchester Annual Conference on May 19, 1888. "The wires flashed the news from ocean to ocean, and the reading public of the United States soon learned that 'Bishop Quinter,' as some of the papers designated him, editor of the Gospel Messenger, gifted preacher, writer and president of Juniata college, had passed on" (Brethren Pathfinders).
JESSE D. REBER, son of Aaron C. and Ada (King) Reber, was born in Caroline County, Maryland, on September 7, 1897. He became a member of the Ridgely, Maryland, congregation in November 1915. Called to the ministry at Ridgely in 1920, he was ordained to the eldership in Philadelphia in 1929. He is a graduate of Elizabethtown College, Gettysburg Theological Seminary, and New York University. On August 26, 1921, Brother Reber married Beulah Marvel; they are the parents of one daughter. His pastoral charges have been Shippensburg, Pennsylvania (1928-1935); Brooklyn, New York (1928-1939) ; Cleveland, Ohio (1939-1944 and as part-time pastor from 1944 to 1946). He was a member of the national staff of Church World Service in 1946 and 1947. From 1947 to the present he has been the associate executive secretary of the Pennsylvania Council of Churches. In district work Brother Reber has been moderator and a member of district boards and committees on numerous occasions. He is the author of a manual entitled Preparing for Church Membership.
J. HERMAN REINKE, the son of Harry and Ruth (Stanfield) Reinke, was born on May 20, 1913, in Battle Creek, Michigan.
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He was baptized in the Black River church, Northeastern Ohio, in August 1933. On February 25, 1934, he was married to Charlotte Elizabeth Orr; they are the parents of three children. He has studied in the Moody Bible Institute and Bethany Biblical Seminary. Granted a ministerial license by the Black River congregation in August 1943, he was ordained by the Mohican, Ohio, church in June 1945 and ordained to the eldership in the same church in 1949. He was the part-time pastor of the Mohican church from June 1945 to September 1950 and of the Maple Grove church from September 1948 to 1955, serving the two churches jointly for two years. During the years from 1945 to 1955 he worked in industry in Ashland, Ohio. Since 1961 he has been giving part-time ministerial aid to the Richland church. In December 1953 Brother Reinke accepted the position of executive secretary of the Ashland County Child Welfare Board, and, since 1958, has been the director of the Ashland County Welfare Department. For a term he was a member of the district board of Christian education. In 1947 he was the foreman of a crew accompanying cattle to Danzig, Poland. In 1952 he toured the Near East.
PERCY JAMES REMSBURG, the son of Edward J. and Emma (Arnold) Remsburg, was born in Goodland, Indiana, on July 21, 1901. After graduating from the Goodland high school in 1919, he continued his education at DePauw University, graduating in 1927. He was bap- tized in and attended a Methodist church until he was graduated from DePauw. On July 9, 1928, he was married to Cecile Allee. After coming to Akron, Ohio, he worked Percy Remsburg for the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company (1929-1938) ; from 1938 to 1940 he was unemployed for a time, then worked for the Singer Sewing Machine Company; in 1940 he went back to the Goodyear Company, transferring to the aircraft division as an engineer. On January 23, 1944, he was baptized in the Akron
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Eastwood congregation, of which he is yet an active member. He has been the central treasurer of Northeastern Ohio since 1951, and has served on the promotional committee of the district.
ABRAM BROWN REPLOGLE, son of George W. and Sarah Ann (Brown) Replogle, was born in Woodbury, Pennsylvania, on October 1, 1888. He was baptized in the Woodbury congregation October 1, 1899. His education was secured at Juniata College, the University of Pennsylvania, Crozer Theological Seminary, and Western Reserve University. Called to the ministry in the Roaring Spring, Pennsylvania, church in March 1914, he was ordained the following month in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. On October 1, 1918, he married Besse Wisherd. Pastoral service has been given Plumcreek and Center Hill, Pennsylvania (1917 to 1920); Norristown, Pennsylvania (part time, 1920 to 1923); Akron First, Ohio (interim, 1949). After 1924 he continued to do some preaching along with his work as a public school teacher. At the time of his retirement from teaching in 1950, he was a member of the district board; for a time he was the treasurer of the joint board and had served on the district service committee. Now retired, he lives in Winter Park, Florida.
RAYMOND RISDEN, a native of Homeworth, Ohio, was born April 10, 1913, to Edward James and Honora (Malone) Risden. He was baptized in the Reading congregation on December 16, 1935. A graduate of Bethany Biblical Seminary, Brother Risden was called to the ministry August 21, 1937, in Reading, was advanced there August 27, 1938, and was ordained to the eldership in Stanley, Wisconsin, on October 1, 1944. He married Ada May Cooper on August 25, 1938; three children were born to them. Brother Risden was the summer pastor at Pleasant Valley, North Dakota, in 1938 and at Bremen, Indiana, in 1940. His regular pastoral charges have been Bartlesville, Oklahoma (1942-1943); Stanley, Wisconsin (1943-1945) ; English Prairie, Indiana (1945-1947); Four Mile, Indiana (1947-1950) ; Salem, Iowa (1950-1952); Reading, Ohio (1952-1957) ; Eagle Creek, Ohio (1957-1960) ; Cedar Lake, Indiana (1960-1962) ; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (1962 -).
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DEAN C. ROHRER, son of Brother and Sister Ferdie Rohrer, came into the District of Northeastern Ohio on September 1, 1960, to be the pas- tor of the Zion Hill church. He was graduated from Manchester Col- lege and Bethany Biblical Semi- nary. For two years he was in the Brethren Service program at Cas- tañer, Puerto Rico. From 1952 to 1960 he ministered to the Shepherd congregation in Michigan. While Dean Rohrer there he was active in community interests and in district work, serving as a member of the board of administration and the board of Christian education. Brother Rohrer married Mary K. Diehl; they have four boys.
OLIVER ROYER, son of John and Elizabeth (Wise) Royer, was born in Randolph County, Indiana, on October 6, 1885. He was baptized in the Palestine church near Breenville on October 31, 1897. Brother Royer married Bessie May Puderbaugh on September 7, 1907; eight children were born to them. He attended Bethany Seminary. Having been called to the ministry in the Price's Creek church, Ohio, on September 9, 1911, he was advanced in the Union City church, Ohio, on September 18, 1913, and ordained to the eldership in the Charleston mission near Chillicothe, Ohio, on May 19, 1918. Brother Royer has a record of over a half-century in the pastoral ministry: Price's Creek (in the free ministry, in 1912) ; Union City (also in the free ministry, from 1913 to 1914) ; the Charleston mission (November 1914 to September 1918) ; Circleville, Ohio (September 1918 to September 1922); New Philadelphia, Ohio (September 1922 to August 1927) ; Alliance, Ohio (August 1927 to September 1935); Pleasant Hill, Ohio (September 1935 to July 1945); Fostoria, Ohio (May 1945 to 1956) ; Burnettsville, Indiana (1960 to the present). He was a member of the Northeastern Ohio ministerial board from 1924 to 1935; of the Southern Ohio mission board for five years; and of the Northwestern Ohio ministerial-mission board
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for five years. Sister Royer died in October 1957. In September 1959 Brother Royer married Anna Knotts.
GEORGE HOSLER SHEETS, son of Harvey G. and Vida May (Hosler) Sheets, was born in Ashland County, Ohio, March 2, 1909. He was baptized in April 1925 in the Ashland Dickey church. His education was received at Ashland College, Moody Bible Institute, and Ashland Theological Seminary. He married Ruth Marie Bone on October 10, 1929; three children were born to them. Brother Sheets was called to the ministry March 2, 1941, ordained in March 1942, and advanced to the eldership in March 1946. Northeastern Ohio has been the setting for all his pastoral en- gagements: Paradise (1942-1948) ; Eden (1948-1950); Ashland City (interim, 1951-1952 and from Au- gust to December 1957); Danville (interim, 1958-1959) ; Maple Grove (1960 -). He has served on the district board of Christian educa- tion as its treasurer and on the Brethren service committee.
George and Ruth Sheets
EDWARD SHEPFER was born near Ragersville, Ohio, on November 22, 1869, a son of Samuel and Mary (Travis) Shepfer. He was baptized near Baltic, Ohio, in 1890. There he was elected to the ministry in June 1893, advanced in June 1897, and ordained to the eldership in June 1900. He served the Baltic, Sugarcreek, Ragersville, and Mount Healthy churches in the free ministry from 1893 to 1940. In addition to his pastoral duties he engaged in farming from 1891 to 1895, merchandising from 1898 to 1905, and banking from 1906 to 1949. He contributed to the work of the church in Northeastern Ohio in many ways, having been district moderator, district treasurer, central treasurer, member of the mission board, reading clerk, and writing clerk. Brother Shepfer married Sarah E. Moomaw on October 27, 1891; they were the parents of two children. He died on June 5, 1958.
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ROBERT L. SHERFY, son of Ernest F. and Effie (Strohm) Sherfy, was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on February 6, 1913. He was baptized in the Monitor church near Conway, Kansas, in 1921. Brother Sherfy was educated in the public schools of McPherson County, Kansas; Bridgewater College (B.A., 1934, and honorary D.D., 1957); and Bethany Biblical Seminary (B.D., 1940). Called to the ministry in the Daleville, Virginia, church in September 1930, he was advanced in Bridgewater, Virginia, in November 1933 and ordained to the eldership in Frederick, Maryland, in October 1936. He married Evelyn Clark in July 1935; two children came into their family circle. Brother Sherfy's pastoral associations have been Frederick (1934-1937); Kokomo, Indiana (1938-1941); Canton First, Ohio (1941-1944); New Carlisle, Ohio (1944-1953) ; Harrisonburg, Virginia (1953-1962); Bridgewater, Virginia (1962 -). In Northeastern Ohio he was the reading clerk, a member of the board of Christian education, and the youth adviser. He was a Standing Committeeman once. From 1955 to 1960 Brother Sherfy was a member of the General Brother- hood Board.
GEORGE SHIDLER was born in Washington County, Penn- sylvania, on October 9, 1823. He was married to Cathrine Shopbell on July 27, 1854. They both united with the Maple Grove Church of the Brethren on October 30, 1859. Brother Shidler served as a deacon in this congregation. He with Sister Shidler went about doing good in a quiet way. Their home was a model of hospitality, piety, and devotion. The aid society of the Maple Grove church was organized in the Shidler home in January 1895, being among the first to be organized in the district. Brother Shidler died on December 4, 1911.
AARON SHIVELY, son of George and Mary (Dickey) Shively, was born on a farm near Suffield, Ohio, on January 8, 1839. He married Rachel Sechrist in June 1866; four children were born to them. Brother Shively served in the free ministry at the Reading and Freeburg churches most of his life. Sister Shively was superintendent of the Bayard Sunday school for many years. He was an amateur astronomer of some note, specializing
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in lunology and frequently lecturing on astronomy. He died in 1910. Sister Shively carried on much of his work, nursing the sick, singing at funerals, and preaching until the time of her death in 1920.
SOLOMON S. SHOEMAKER, son of David and Hatty Ann (Browand) Shoemaker, was born in Stark County, Ohio, on February 24, 1862. He was baptized in the Congress Lake congregation in August 1885. He married Clara A. Ebie in 1888; five children were born to them. Brother Shoemaker was called to the ministry at East Nim- ishillen in 1902, advanced there in 1907, and ordained to the eldership in 1912. He assisted the East Nim- ishillen and Hartville churches in the free ministry from 1902 to 1937. For five years he was the pastor of the Mohican church; he also served the Eastwood church for sixteen months and the Owl Creek church for eighteen months. Brother Shoe- maker was moderator of two dis- S. S. Shoemaker trict conferences and a delegate to the Annual Conference twice. After retiring from the farm he and Sister Shoemaker moved to Hartville, Ohio. He intensified his Bible study by correspondence from Bethany Biblical Semi- nary. During the winter months, over a period of years, minis- ters of the district met periodically at his home to sit under his sincere teaching and be inspired by his spiritual fervor. He died on December 13, 1954.
THOMAS EVERETT SHOEMAKER, son of Silas H. and Edith (Clark) Shoemaker, was born on November 11, 1928, near Ambler, Pennsylvania. Anna M. Gross became his wife on April 10, 1954. He was baptized in the Ambler Church of the Brethren in October 1936. Following graduation from Juniata College in 1950, he attended Bethany Biblical Seminary. He
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was ordained a minister on September 6, 1953, in the Ambler church. The Rice Lake church, Wisconsin, was his field of work from September 1954 to August 1956. From 1956 to 1960 he was the pastor of the Paradise church in Northeastern Ohio.
WILBUR D. SHOEMAKER was born to Solomon S. and Clara (Ebie) Shoemaker in Stark County, Ohio, on May 2, 1895. On January 31, 1909, he was baptized in the East Nimishillen congregation. Following his graduation from the Greentown high school in 1913, he studied for two summer terms at Kent State University. His marriage to Verna Stoner took place on August 17, 1915; one son and two daughters came into their home. Brother Shoemaker taught in the public schools from 1913 to 1916, farmed in Summit and Stark counties from 1916 to 1940, and has followed the building trade as carpenter and contractor since 1923. During these years he has built well over two hundred fifty dwelling units and has erected or helped to remodel nine Church of the Brethren houses of worship and thirteen for other denominations. The Bristolville and Painesville sanctuaries are representative evi- Wilbur Shoemaker dence of his leadership and service. Brother Shoemaker was called to the office of deacon in 1938 by the East Nimishillen congregation. He has been a member of the district mission board and the treasurer of the council of boards. Since his retirement in 1960, he has contributed much time and effort to the newly developing West View Manor.
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