Rev. Lincoln B. WADSWORTH

WADSWORTH, HURST, LEWIS, LINDEE

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 10/7/2007 at 01:29:16

September 7, 2007
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA

Lincoln B. Wadsworth - Baptist preacher, 98

The Rev. Lincoln B. Wadsworth, 98, formerly of Wayne, an administrator with the Baptist Church for almost 50 years, died Sunday at Elm Terrace Gardens, a retirement home in Lansdale where he had lived for the last nine years. Rev. Wadsworth was in charge of the church extension and building fund with the National Ministries of the American Baptist Churches USA in Valley Forge, from 1946 until 1974. After retiring from the National Ministries, he served the Philadelphia Baptist Association for 23 years until 1997. Every Sunday, he and his wife, Juanita Lindee Wadsworth, would visit a different Baptist church in Philadelphia, their daughter Joan Hurst said. He established the Local Church Ministries Concern Suppers, she said, which brought together members from inner-city Baptist churches to share programs ideas and for spiritual enrichment.

A native of Goldfield, Iowa, Rev. Wadsworth earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa in 1931 and later earned a bachelor of divinity degree from Colgate Rochester Divinity School in Rochester, N.Y. After his ordination as a Baptist minister, he assisted pastors in rural New York state, was an associate pastor to Daniel A. Poling at the Baptist Temple in Philadelphia in the late 1930s, and then was pastor of a church in Geneva, N.Y. He returned to Philadelphia in 1946. Rev. Wadsworth enjoyed gardening, woodworking, and spending time with his family.

In addition to his wife of 73 years and daughter Joan, he is survived by a son, Lincoln; another daughter, Carol Lewis; seven grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren; and four great-great-grandchildren. A life celebration will be at 10 a.m. tomorrow at Baptist Church in the Great Valley, 945 N. Valley Forge Rd., Devon. Friends may call at 9 a.m. Burial will be in the church cemetery.