News

Bishop Dew Memorial Service Video Uploaded to 'REEL Witness'

A video of the Saturday, August 7 memorial service for retired United Methodist Bishop William W. ("Bill") Dew, Jr. of Elk Grove has been uploaded to "REEL Witness," the online video library of the California-Nevada Annual Conference. Click here to play the Bishop Dew memorial service video (runs 80 minutes).   We invite you to visit REEL Witness frequently to play this and other videos of interest. Navigate to REEL Witness from the Home Page of the Conference...

Bishop Dew Memorial Service to Be Live Streamed

The memorial service for Bishop William W. ("Bill") Dew, Jr. will be broadcast live from First United Methodist Church of Loomis via computer, beginning at approximately 10:45 a.m. on Saturday, August 7. To watch, type or paste www.ourchurchvideos.com/livestream/cnumc into your web browser – or go to the Home Page of the Conference website at cnumc.org and click on the relevant headline....

Location Change for Bishop Dew Memorial Service

The location of the Memorial Service for Bishop William W. ("Bill") Dew, Jr. has been changed, based on seating and facility concerns. The service now will take place at First United Methodist Church of Loomis, 6414 Brace Road, Loomis, CA 95650 on Saturday, August 7 at 11 a.m. FUMC of Loomis is less than 30 minutes east of the Sacramento International Airport, with accessible parking and seating.     Bishop Dew died suddenly on July 14 at his home in Elk Grove,...

California-Nevada Conference Is Saddened by Death of Bishop Bill Dew

SACRAMENTO, CA | July 15, 2010—The California-Nevada Annual Conference today is mourning the loss of Bishop William W. ("Bill") Dew, Jr., who died Wednesday morning after collapsing at his home in Elk Grove. Bishop Dew leaves his wife of 52 years, Mitzie Eggers Dew, who was his college sweetheart; three children: the Rev. Linda Dew-Hiersoux, pastor of Central United Methodist Church and at The Table (both in Sacramento), William Waldo Dew, III, and Marilyn Jane Dew (along with...

Breaking News: Cal-Nev Mourns Passing of Bob Cary

The California-Nevada Annual Conference is mourning the passing of Robert J. Cary, 96, who died on Tuesday, June 8 at a convalescent hospital in San Francisco. He was Annual Conference Youth and Student Director, 1949-1967, and directed the Conference camping program and International Christian Youth Exchange and Missionary Education.   Bob Cary served on the staffs of several local United Methodist churches: Central UMC, Stockton; Burlingame UMC; and Wesley UMC, Fresno. He also was...

Services Set for Sam Dixon, Clint Rabb

Arrangements have been made for services for both Sam Dixon and Clint Rabb, according to Heather Wilson, United Methodist Volunteers in Mission (UMVIM) Western Jurisdiction Coordinator. Dixon, the head of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), and Rabb, who headed the Office of Mission Volunteers of the General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM) of The United Methodist Church, died as a result of injuries suffered in the January 12 earthquake in Haiti.   Details of the...

Bishop Eugene M. Frank, Social Activist, Dies at 101

By Kathy Noble Oct. 14, 2009 | NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) Bishop Eugene M. Frank, the first president of the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church, died Oct. 13 at Kingswood Manor in Kansas City, Mo.   At 101, Frank was the oldest United Methodist bishop. When he was elected in 1956, he was the youngest bishop in the Methodist Church.   A passion for racial equality in the church and beyond marked his ministry. During his 16-year tenure as bishop of the Missouri...

Del Brown, PSR Dean Emeritus and Voice of Progressive Christianity, Dies at 73

Delwin Brown, dean emeritus of Pacific School of Religion (PSR), died at his home in San Rafael, California on September 12, of colon cancer. As a lay theologian equally at ease in academia and in the public square, Brown was a leading national voice of progressive Christianity. Born in Indiana in 1935, Brown received a BA from Anderson College, a bachelor of divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York, and a PhD from Claremont Graduate School in California. From 1983 to 2003,...

Memorial Service for Lee Williamson Set

Memorial service arrangements have been made for the Rev. Lee Williamson, a retired pastor in the California-Nevada Annual Conference who died suddenly on July 29 at age 70. He was the recipient of the 2009 Bishop Talbert Award for Racial Justice, presented at Annual Conference Session in June.   An informal memorial service with potluck is planned for Saturday, September 12 at 11 a.m. at First United Methodist Church in Hayward. The Revs. John Chamberlin, Sarah Hubinsky Phelps, Katie...

2009 Talbert Award Recipient Dies Suddenly

The recipient of the 2009 Bishop Talbert Award, the Rev. Lee Williamson, died unexpectedly at his home, early yesterday morning (Wednesday, July 29, 2009). He was 70 years of age.   He is survived by his wife, Arlene Williamson, along with two adult children, son Roy and daughter V.J. and their spouses, along with other family and friends. A memorial service will be planned and announced at a later date.   A graduate of Pacific School of Religion, Rev. Williamson served at...

Former Conference Lay Leader Pete Taylor Is Mourned

Pete Taylor, Lay Leader for the California-Nevada Annual Conference for eight years, died peacefully on Wednesday, April 29 at 11 a.m., according to his beloved wife, Veronica. He was 80 years of age.   Remembered as a man who loved The United Methodist Church, was deeply committed to racial justice, and was a passionate proponent for the next generation of leadership, Pete also was a devoted husband, father, and grandfather and an avid outdoorsman.   He was a native of Houston,...

Bishop Melvin Wheatley Dies at 93

A UMNS Report By Linda Green* March 3, 2009 Bishop Melvin E. Wheatley Jr., a champion of gay rights in The United Methodist Church, died March 1 after a prolonged illness. Wheatley, 93, retired, had been residing in a private board and care residence in Mission Viejo, California but called Laguna Woods, California home. Bishop Wheatley received an award of appreciation in 1984 from Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. "Arrogant judgmentalism, as some have experienced by society, even...

Memorial Service Tomorrow for Member of Communications Commission

We have just received news of the death, last Tuesday, of Theresa Thibodeaux, a member of the Conference Communications Commission and of the Conference Committee on Nominations. Her Memorial Service is scheduled for tomorrow, Saturday, November 15, at 2 p.m., at her home church, Taylor Memorial United Methodist Church in Oakland, California. Theresa will be greatly missed. We are so thankful for her service and extend our deepest sympathy to her family. Our prayers are with...

Services Held Saturday for Bush Library Opponent

Funeral services for the Rev. Andrew Weaver of New York were conducted on Saturday (Nov. 1, 2008) at Chinese United Methodist Church in Manhattan, where his wife, the Rev. Carolyn Stapleton, is associate pastor. Weaver, 61, who died Oct. 22 of cardiac arrest, served churches in the California-Nevada Annual Conference before becoming a licensed psychologist and writer. He was serving as editor of the Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy, published by the Haworth Press, at the time of his...

The Holy Spirit's Creativity in Three Lives: Remembering The Rev. Candace Cessna

Three women … their stories intertwined.   Two were embarking on United Methodist Ministry as a second career. One was a career licensed school counselor in Arizona who later moved to California; the other was a Human Resource career employee in Virginia. Both had married and had a daughter and a son. Both received a Master’s of Divinity degree from a respected seminary.   Both had goals of being a Certified Pastoral Counselor. One was on the Elder’s track for ordination in the...

Cal-Nevada UMVIM volunteer and environmental champion Jim Roberts dies

The United Methodist Volunteers in Mission (UMVIM) program of the California-Nevada Annual Conference has lost one of its most dedicated servants. Jim Roberts, a lay minister at St. Mark’s UMC in Sacramento, died Nov. 25. He succumbed to a brain tumor at age 73 after giving his family gifts of gold sand dollars on Thanksgiving and putting the final touches on a book about his life.   It is likely to be a book well worth the read.   James Arthur Roberts graduated Stanford...

Cal-Nevada mourns 'pioneering' retired clergywoman

“She was a pioneer”: one of the tributes to The Rev. Virginia Y. Hilton, a retired California-Nevada United Methodist pastor who died Sunday following a lengthy illness.   A graduate of Pacific School of Religion, Rev. Hilton became a Probationary Member of the Cal-Nevada Conference in 1976, leaving her home Annual Conference of Northern New Jersey. She transferred into Cal-Nevada in June, 1978 as an Associate Member, then became an Elder in Full Connection in 1980.   Like Rev....

Cal-Nevada loses a "conspicuous" Volunteer

The family and extended family of Lyle Morris gathered last month to remember a man whose name had come to be synonymous with United Methodist Volunteers in Mission in the California-Nevada Annual Conference.   Mr. Morris died August 25, 2007, ending his valiant struggle with cancer. He, along with his wife, Carol, was a member of First UMC-Walnut Creek.   His commitment to working and giving through the UMVIM program was known around the conference and beyond.   Bishop...

Doug Adams, pioneering professor in religion and the arts, dies on July 24

Doug Adams, professor of Christianity and the arts at Pacific School of Religion for 31 years, died at the home of friends in Jackson, CA on July 24, 2007. As a scholar and teacher, Adams played a leading role internationally in the field of religion and the arts, and was beloved by generations of students. Adams also headed the doctoral faculty in Art and Religion at the Graduate Theological Union (GTU), a consortium of nine seminaries, including Pacific School of Religion (PSR), in Berkeley,...

Former UMCOR director Haines dies at 89

(UMNS) - The Rev. J. Harry Haines, director of the United Methodist Committee on Relief from 1966 to 1983, died March 29 at the age of 89. He suffered a heart attack in Eugene, Ore., where he and his wife, Loma, lived in retirement. "Harry Haines was a saint, a model of Christian commitment, hard work, and inspiration," said the Rev. R. Randy Day, chief executive of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, the parent organization of UMCOR, in New York. "For years he was Mr. United...