wfn.org | Notes about People

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22-Feb-96

96074                   Notes about People 
 
                      by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
     The Rev. W. Wilson "Bill" Rasco, former synod executive for the Synod 
of Alaska-Northwest, died Jan. 29 of cancer.  A memorial service was held 
Feb. 5 at First Presbyterian Church of Bellevue, Wash. 
     A native of Sunnyside, Wash., Rasco graduated from Whitworth College 
in Spokane and San Francisco Theological Seminary.  Before beginning his 22 
years of executive service, he served pastorates in California and 
Washington.  In 1956 Rasco became the then Synod of Washington's director 
of finance. 
     In 1966 he became the last executive of the synod.  He was named the 
first and only executive of the Synod of Washington-Alaska, and then became 
the first executive of the Synod of Alaska-Northwest. 
     Rasco is survived by his wife, Faith, three married daughters and a 
host of grandchildren. 
 
 
                              # # # 
 
     Judy Westfall has been hired as associate for church loans in the 
Evangelism and Church Development Program Area of the National Ministries 
Division in Louisville.  She began her new work Feb. 12. 
     Westfall has been serving as a paralegal in the General Assembly's 
Office of Legal Services, where much of her work has involved church loans. 
She is a certified paralegal under the American Bar Association. 
 
                              # # # 
 
     Chris Conover, Westminster John Knox Press (WJK) sales representative 
for the upper Midwestern states, Manitoba and Ontario, has been named sales 
manager for WJK.  His appointment was announced Jan. 22 by WJK president 
and publisher Davis Perkins. 
     Conover came to WJK in 1994 with management experience in religious 
retailing and a Ph.D.  in New Testament Greek.  He will continue to cover 
the major accounts in his territory during the spring selling season while 
assuming his new duties. 
 
                              # # # 
 
     The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Foundation has named development 
officers for Florida, Southern California and Hawaii. 
     Robert L. Falzone, an elder at First Presbyterian Church in 
Gainesville, Fla., has been hired to serve all of Florida except Florida 
Presbytery.  His territory encompasses the presbyteries of St.  Augustine, 
Tropical Florida, Tampa Bay, Central Florida and Tropical Florida.  He has 
been active in funds development for National Public Radio and the American 
Field Service.  His office is in Orlando. 
     The Rev. David Winters has been named development officer for the 
Synod of Southern California and Hawaii.  He has served pastorates in 
Illinois and Missouri and has been a Presbyterian missionary in Guatemala. 
Winters is based in the synod office in Los Angeles. 
 
                              # # # 
 
     Shin Hyung Kim, who received the General Assembly's Women of Faith 
Award in 1994, died Feb. 9 of a chronic illness.  She was 67. 
     Shin Hyung Kim was the first recipient of a scholarship from a 
memorial fund established by the Rev. Horace G. Underwood, the first 
American Presbyterian missionary to Korea.  She emigrated to the United 
States in 1949, becoming the first Korean-American social worker in this 
country, first in Detroit and later in southern California. 
     She has been a tireless advocate for democracy, human rights and 
unification in Korea. 
     Shin Hyung Kim is survived by her husband, John Kim, and four 
children. 
 
                              # # # 
 
     The Rev. Gwen Beighle, 63, founder of the Multifaith AIDS Project of 
Seattle (MAPS) and a driving force in the Presbyerian AIDS Network, died 
Jan. 5 of ovarian cancer.  Services were held at Seattle's First 
Presbyterian Church Jan. 10. 
     Beighle, a native of Eau Claire, Wis., was raised by her mother in 
Wisconsin and Montana.  She worked as a medical technician/bacteriologist 
and wife and mother of four children before entering seminary at the age of 
46.  She was ordained to hospital chaplaincy in 1982 after graduating from 
Vancouver (British Columbia) School of Theology.  Beighle founded MAPS in 
1987 and served as its executive director until 1992. 
     She received countless humanitarian awards for her work and also 
served as moderator of Seattle Presbytery. 
     In addition to her husband, Doug, an attorney, Gwen Beighle is 
survived by her four children: Cheryl, Kate, Randall and Doug; five 
grandchildren; and her brother, Charles, of Port Huron, Mich. 

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