wfn.org | Former Columnist for The Disciple Magazine Dies

["Wilma Shufitt" <wshuffit@cm.disciples.org>]

Date:  January 10, 2003
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: Melinda Mains
Phone: 317-713-2496
E-mail: mmains@cm.disciples.org
on the Web: http://www.disciples.org 

DECATUR, Ill., January 10, 2003 -- Award-winning humorist and former
columnist for The Disciple magazine, Nancy Jo Batman, 59, Moweaqua,
Ill., died Jan. 8 after a summer of illness and a massive heart attack.

She was the wife of Ray Batman, executive director of Dove, a 
Decatur social services organization and a former Disciples regional 
camp director.

Batman, a housewife who doubled for a time as a Decatur newspaper 
columnist, wrote 37 humor articles for The Disciple in the 1990s, 
which brought her honors from the Associated Church Press.

Her whimsical humor dealt with her struggles to keep the 
commandments, desire to be a saint without too many saintly 
responsibilities, and to deal with such questions as how safe 
microwaves can be if they nuke meatloaf but can't get the paper towel 
hot, how to deal with an "Amish" dog that shows disdain for 
automobiles by throwing up in them, and how to keep kids from coming 
home when you are enjoying the empty nest.

She wrote two books of her humor for Chalice Press: Yeah, But How 
Would She Look Beside the Go-Kart Trophy? and It's not Polite to Play 
Dead at the Supper Table.

Batman served on the program committee for two Disciples general
assemblies.

Memorial services will	be  Saturday, Jan.11, at 1 p.m. in Central
Christian Church, Decatur.

					-- end 

Contact:
Melinda Mains
317-713-2496
mmains@cm.disciples.org 

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