|
Scripture tells us that man “knows not his time.” With these words, we remember a few notable people who saw an end to their earthly days in 2009.
John Olav Larssen died Jan. 2. He was 71. Larssen was an evangelical preacher and missionary who was sometimes called “Norway’s Billy Graham.” He began preaching as a teenager, and eventually became one of Norway’s best-known men.
The Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, a leading voice of Catholic conservatism and editor of the journal First Things, died Jan. 8 after a battle with cancer. He was 72. Neuhaus advised President George W. Bush on a range of religious and ethical matters. He spent the latter part of his life seeking to strengthen the bonds among Catholics, evangelicals and Jews. In 2005, TIME Magazine named Neuhaus one of the “25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America.”
Holland (Holly) Coors died Jan. 18. She was 88. Coors, who married into the famous brewing family, was a conservative activist and used her family fortune to help establish several key conservative organizations, including The Heritage Foundation.
Novelist John Updike died of lung cancer on Jan. 27. He was 76. The publication of “Rabbit, Run” in 1960 established Updike as one of America’s rising literary stars. The subsequent publication of three other novels in the “Rabbit” series saw the fulfillment of that early promise and those four novels—along with a prodigious output of fiction, poetry, and literary criticism—made Updike, arguably, the most significant literary figure of the late 20th century. Religion was a major theme in the fiction of Updike, a professing Christian and regular churchgoer, though his characters often experienced crises of faith that sometimes never fully resolved.
Millard Fuller was the co-founder of Habit for Humanity International, which has become the largest builder of affordable housing in the world, and a leader in the affordable housing movement. Fuller died Feb. 3 at age 74.
News commentator and radio legend, Paul Harvey, died February 28. He was 90. He was best known for his rich voice and trademark saying, ‘and now the rest of the story.’ Harvey began his radio career in 1933 while he was still in high school at KVOO-AM in Tulsa.
Politician and football player Jack Kemp died of cancer on May 2. He was 73. Kemp had a decadelong, successful professional football career, during which he volunteered for Republican candidates and voraciously read conservative classics in the off-season. He served in the U.S. Congress from 1971 to 1989, and ran for president in 1988. In 1996, he was the Republican Party’s pick for vice president. He also served as George H. W. Bush’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
Notorious abortion doctor George Tiller was shot to death May 31, as he stood in the doorway of his church, Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kan. He was 67. A man whose family said has a history of mental problems was arrested for the shooting. Though pro-abortion advocates promised to keep Tiller’s abortion facility open, his family announced soon after Tiller’s funeral that it would remain permanently closed.
Pop icons Farrah Fawcett, 62, and Michael Jackson, 50, died on June 25. Farrah Fawcett had a long acting career, from "Charlie's Angels" to dramatic film and stage roles. Michael Jackson unquestionably changed the face of pop music, from his beginnings with the Jackson 5 to his own record breaking, chart topping solo projects. His Thriller album made history, and the video for the title track changed the way music videos were made forever. His fingerprints were all over everything from fashion to music to dance.
Warren Jackson “Jack” Williamson died Aug. 8, at the age of 90. He was an Alabama attorney, World War II veteran, and a churchman. As an elder in his local church, he became a leader in the movement in the 1960s and 70s to leave the mainline Presbyterian denomination in the South and to form the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). He was the moderator of the PCA’s first General Assembly. Williamson was a member of the board of directors of Reformed Theological Seminary, and he was a leader on the board of the Presbyterian Journal, an independent magazine founded in 1942 by L. Nelson Bell. Publication of that magazine gave way in 1986-7 to the launch of World magazine, and he chaired the board of WORLD for most of the next decade.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver, 88, died August 11. She was the founder of the Special Olympics and a lifelong prolife supporter. Shriver was an early supporter of the Susan B. Anthony List, Democrats for Life of America and Feminists for Life. She also formed the Community of Care to help care for teenage mothers and their children.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy died Aug. 25 in Hyannisport, Mass., after a 15-month battle with brain cancer. He was 77. He had represented Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate since 1962, and was often called the “Liberal Lion” of the Senate both because of his political views and because his thick mane of silver hair and an oratorical style that sometimes sounded like a roar. Christian leaders have acknowledged the personal strength and personality of Kennedy, but they have also noted that Kennedy’s views often ran counter to Christian ideals.
Jim Pouillon, 63, was outside an Owosso, Mich., high school Sept. 11 when a man drove by and shot him multiple times, according to Fox News. Pouillon reportedly was carrying a pro-life sign. Pamela Sherstad, director of public information for Right to Life of Michigan, said, “It’s important for us to continue our work and to talk to others about the value of each and every human life.”
Charismatic evangelist Oral Roberts, who founded Oral Roberts University, died Dec. 15 at the age of 91. Roberts died of complications from pneumonia in Newport Beach, Calif. In 1947, Roberts founded Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and began conducting crusades across America and around the world. Through the years, he conducted more than 300 crusades on six continents. Roberts revolutionized evangelism by bringing television cameras into services and he began a television program, “Oral Roberts Presents.” He carried his television ministry into the new century by co-hosting the program, “Miracles Now,” with his son Richard. He published dozens of books, including “The Miracle of Seed-Faith,” with nearly eight million copies in circulation. His most recent books include “Still Doing the Impossible” and “Cashing In Your Receipt with God.” He also published several personal commentaries on the Bible. Oral Roberts University was chartered in 1963 and accepted its first students in 1965. Oral Roberts was school president until 1993 and was a lifetime member of the ORU board of trustees.
Compiled CE staff, EP news and other wire sources.
|
|
 |
|
|
