Reaves, Rev. Sam 1929-2003

REAVES, RAINEY, DEAN, MAKI, WARMATH, FRIZZEL

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 11/5/2012 at 17:33:35

The Grinnell (IA) Herald-Register; Nov. 3, 2003

SAM REAVES

The Rev. Sam Reaves, 74, of Seymour, formerly of Grinnell, died of a heart condition Friday, Oct. 31, 2003, at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines.

A funeral service will be held Tuesday, Nov. 4, at 10:30 a.m. at Grinnell Christian Church. Officiating will be the Rev. Richard Arrowwood, superintendent of the Iowa District, Assemblies of God. Organist will be Marlene Toney and vocalist will be Rhonda Minner. Casket bearers will be Nikki and Randy Criswell, Andrea and Brad Freese, Steve Reaves Jr., Mandy and Travis Thonen and Brett Maki. Honorary bearers will be Nathan, Caitlyn and Jacqueline Criswell, Samuel Shedlock, Jennifer, Rachel and Alexis Maki and Ashlee and Grant Freese. Interment will be in Hazelwood Cemetery. Friends may call at Smith Funeral Home beginning at 12 noon on Monday with the family present from 6 to 9 p.m. A memorial fund will be established.

He was born March 10, 1929, in Vicksburg, Miss., to Wiley and Mattie Lee Rainey Reaves. He was raised in Vicksburg and Memphis, Tenn., where he graduated from Memphis Southside High School in 1949. He attended Central Bible Institute in Springfield, Mo., and was ordained in 1952 in Nashville, Tenn.

On Aug. 24, 1951, he was married to Naomi Dean in Wood River, Ill. He began his ministry in Sarcoxie, Mo., and served in Assembly of God churches in Wyoming, Illinois and Iowa before moving to Grinnell in 1968. He served the Grinnell congregation from 1968 to 1988. In 1992 he moved to Seymour and was the current minister of the Seymour Assembly of God.

He was a former Presbyter of the Iowa District of the Assembly of God and also had served on the executive council of the Iowa District.

He is survived by his wife, Naomi Reaves of Seymour; one daughter Deborah Maki of Newton; two sons, Sam Reaves Jr. of Grinnell and Steve Reaves of Kansas City, Mo.; 13 grandchildren; 10 great grandchildren; three brothers, Jeff Reaves of Benton, Ark., Wiley Reaves of Olive Branch, Miss., and James Reaves of Wichita, Kan., and two sisters, Grace Warmath and Velda Frizzel, both of Memphis, Tenn. He was preceded in death by his parents.