Davis, Rev. J. W. 1884-1952

DAVIS, FAGER, MILLER

Posted By: Linda Ziemann, volunteer (email)
Date: 6/6/2009 at 16:02:38

REV. J. W. DAVIS DIES,
WAS PASTOR OF COLLEGE CHURCH

Funeral services will be held Saturday, Jan. 26, for the Rev. James W. Davis, a former pastor of the College church in LeMars, who died Tuesday at Long Beach, Calif. He lived in LeMars from 1922 to 1926.

His body will like in state at the College church from noon Saturday until the service begins at 2 p.m. The Rev. K.L. Clawson and Dr. G.O. Thompson will conduct the rites, and burial will be in the LeMars cemetery, under the direction of the Mauer funeral home.

Rev. Davis is survived by his wife and four sons, two of whom are ministers in the Evangelical United Brethren church now on active duty as chaplains with the army. One of them has prepared the following account of their father’s life:

Rev. James Walter Davis was born near Council Bluffs, Iowa, March 11, 1884, and died at Long Beach, Calif., Jan. 22, 1952. He early dedicated his life to the ministry, and with his younger brother, Paul was sixth and seventh of a group of candidates from the old Fairview church. While at Western Union College, now Westmar, at LeMars, he pursued his academic training with the ministry in mind, and was licensed to preach by the Des Moines conference.

He began his active ministry in 1905 in the Illinois Conference, where practically his entire ministry of 46 years was spent. While carrying on the arduous task of starting a new work and building a church in Elmhurst, Illinois, he was able to pursue a complete course in the McCormick Theological Seminary of Chicago for a B.D. degree.

In 1908 he was married to Ada Ione Fager of Forreston, Ill., to which union were born four sons and one daughter. Two of these sons are ministers in the Evangelical United Brethren, and chaplains on active duty in the United States Army, Merrill C. and James Russell. Two other sons, D. Dwight of Richton Park, Illinois, and Spurgeon F. of Wauconda, Illinois, also survive. The wife and daughter predeceased him.

In 1926, he was married to Cora E. Miller of Dixon, Illinois, who survives; besides he leaves an adopted daughter, Mary David Henning of Yorkville, Illinois.

He served the following fields: Orangeville, Rockford, Elmhurst, Shannon, Ashton, LeMars, Iowa (the College church), Naperville-Grace, Barrington, Superintendent of Men at the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago (under appointment of the Bishop), Bonfield-Grand Prairie, Locust Street, Terre Haute, Indiana, Ashton again and Terre Haute again.

He began his long and fruitful ministry with the founding and building of St. John’s Church, Rockford, Ill., followed by the already mentioned founding and building of the Elmhurst church, and closed it with the erection of the modern and efficient plant of the Locust Street church in Terre Haute, Ind. While in Terre Haute, his ministry was greatly enlarged by the radio broadcast of his Sunday services, either morning or evening, for six years over the local radio station.

His service as a pastor evangelist is known the length and breadth of two countries, the United States and Canada, for he had countless calls to assist in campaigns and Bible Conferences. He served as evangelist and Bible expositor in eleven different states and provinces.

~Source: The LeMars Semi-Weekly Sentinel, January 25, 1952

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