Donald R. Thurman

Rev. Donald R. Thurman

Rev. Donald R. Thurman

Donald Thurman
October 17, 1933 – August 11, 2016
University Park, Iowa | Age 82

Rev. Donald R. Thurman, 82 of University Park died at MHP Hospice Serenity House in Oskaloosa. Don was born October 17, 1933 at the home of his parents Rae and Lena Mae Thurman in Bonne Terre, Missouri.

Don graduated from Bonne Terre High School in 1951. He was converted to Christ in February 1951 at the altar of the Salem Methodist Church and sanctified wholly in March 1951 at the altar of the Esther Methodist Church. He was called to the pastoral ministry in 1953 and became the Senior Pastor at the Mt. Zion Methodist Church and the Pleasant Home Methodist Church near Blakesburg, Iowa.

Don was married to Joanne Jacobs, a classmate at Chicago Evangelistic Institute on July 30, 1954, in Stockton, California, Joanne’s home town. Their 62 year marriage was blest with four children and 35 years together in the pastoral ministry of our Lord.

Don joined the First Church of the Nazarene in Oskaloosa, Iowa in 1954 and was appointed the Senior Pastor of the Moravia, Iowa Church of the Nazarene in August of that year and served there until 1956. He graduated from Chicago Evangelistic Institute with a BA Degree in Bible and Theology in 1955 and attended the Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri in 1956-57, at which time he was employed by Bendix Aviation and Alas Chalmers and Electrolux Company’s and also filled the pulpits of the Nazarene churches in Independence, Deep Water and Clinton, Missouri. He was appointed the Senior Pastor of the Diagonal Church of the Nazarene in Diagonal, Iowa in 1957-1958, at which time he planted a Church of the Nazarene in Maloy, Iowa and pastored the two churches simultaneously.

In 1958, he and his family moved to California where he planted a Church of the Nazarene in Davis, CA. In 1964 he was called to the Yreka Church of the Nazarene as the Senior Pastor and served there until 1967 at which time he was called to the Artesia Church of the Nazarene in Southern California. From 1968-1989 he served as a Senior Pastor in Southern California Nazarene churches in Artesia, Hemet, Lake Elsinore, Costa Mesa (where he also planted a Spanish Speaking Church of the Nazarene), Long Beach Bixby North, and the Anza Community Church in Anza, California.

From 1989-2007 he worked as a Real Estate Agent and Broker in Southern California. In 1995, he formed his own Real Estate Company in Hemet, California until retirement in 2007, at which time he and his wife moved back to Oskaloosa. Don and Joanne have been members of Gateway Church of the Nazarene since that time, where he has served as a Bible Teacher and also part-time Pastor of the Lovilia Community Church in Lovilia, Iowa.

Don and Joanne had four children in their union, Carolyn Sue (& Thurman) Johnson of Clovis, California; Kenneth Rae Thurman of Frisco, Texas; David Paul Thurman of Oskaloosa, Iowa; and Michael Joseph Thurman of Palm Springs, California, who passed away in June 1998 at the young age of 38.

Don is survived by his daughter Carolyn Sue Johnson of Clovis, California; his sons: Kenneth Rae of Frisco, Texas, and David Paul of Oskaloosa; six grandchildren; six great grandchildren; one great, great grandchild; a sister, Barbara Stotler of Herculaneum, Missouri; and many nieces, nephews, and cousins.

He is preceded in death by his wife Joanne; his parents Rae and Lena Mae Thurman; older sister, Juanita Haley; son, Michael Joseph; and grandson, Sgt. Paul Robert Thurman.

Memorial Services will be held Saturday, September 3, 2016 at 10:30 am in the Iowa Holiness Association Tabernacle with Reverend Bill Hines and Reverend David Childers Officiating.
Private Burial will be in the University Park Cemetery. The Bates Funeral Chapel is charge of the arrangements.

To send flowers or a memorial gift to the family of Donald Thurman please visit our Sympathy Store.

Posted by on Aug 12 2016. Filed under Obituaries. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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