Thursday, March 28, 2024

Obituary of Pastor Willis Kearns, 47

Name of Deceased Pastor Willis Kearns
Age 47
Date of Death 07/31/2012
Date of Birth
Funeral Home Wetzler Funeral Service Inc., Bellefonte

Pastor Willis F. Kearns, Jr., an ordained Presbyterian pastor of 44 years,
went to be with the Lord on Tuesday, July 31, after a long battle with
cancer.
Pastor Kearns leaves behind his loving wife of 47 years, Maureen of
Bellefonte, a son, Jeff of St. Louis, MO, his father, Willis Kearns, Sr.,
Lewistown, his sister Jan McCloskey and her husband Wayne of
Howard, PA and a brother, Gary and his wife Diana, of LaMesa, CA.
Pastor Kearns was preceded in death by his mother, Bernice Kearns, in
2010.
It was while he was working as a “Printers Devil” in high school in
Sharon, PA, where the Kearns’ lived at the time and where he graduated
high school in 1961, that he felt a definite call to the ministry. He then
pursued that call with fervor by earning scholarships, grants and awards.
He served as a student pastor in his sophomore year at Grove City
College, where he received his Bachelor of Philosophy Degree in 1965.
He won a full scholarship to Louisville Presbyterian Seminary where he
received his Master’s of Divinity Degree in 1968. Pastor Kearns served
churches in Kentucky, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and
West Virginia. It was while serving the Huntingdon Presbyterian
Church, Huntingdon, PA, Huntingdon Presbytery, in 1998 that he felt a
definite call to the intentional interim ministry. He answered that call
and served 6 churches as an interim until he retired in June of 2008. He
then continued in the ministry serving as Stated Supply in a small
church, then accepted 2 more interim positions, having served the Lord
for 50 years through April 15, 2012.
A memorial service will be held at Faith United Methodist Church, 512 Hughes St., Bellefonte PA 16823, on Saturday, August 18, 2012, at 1:00 pm, with Pastor Andrew Morgan officiating. In lieu of flowers, Pastor Kearns’ wife asks that
you send a donation in his memory to Compassion International’s
Unsponsored Children’s Fund, 12290 Voyager Parkway, Colorado
Springs, CO 80921; your local hospice or you local cancer society.