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UMNS# 05135-J. Wesley Hole, United Methodist lay leader, dead at 101


From "NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>
Date Fri, 4 Mar 2005 15:28:48 -0600

J. Wesley Hole, United Methodist lay leader, dead at 101

Mar. 4, 2005 News media contact: Tim Tanton * (615) 7425470*
Nashville {05135}

NOTE: Related resources are available with this story at
http://www.umc.org/interior.asp?mid=6893.

A UMNS Report
By Marta Aldrich*

Prominent United Methodist lay leader J. Wesley Hole, who served as
secretary of the 1939 Methodist uniting conference and became the first
layperson elected secretary of the denomination's General Conference,
has died at age 101.

Hole, who died Feb. 14 in Arcadia, Calif., also worked on several
general church boards during his nearly four decades of service to the
denomination.

"He was probably the best example of integrity I've ever known in terms
of working with people administratively," said the Rev. Don Locher, who
worked with Hole while serving as a district superintendent in Arizona.
"He was a brilliant administrator and a wonderful servant of the
church."

Born in 1903 in Burns, Kan., Hole joined the church in 1908. As
secretary of the 1939 uniting conference, he helped oversee the merger
that brought together three Methodist denominations that had split in
the 19th century, mostly over the issue of slavery. That merger created
the Methodist Church, which merged with the Evangelical United Brethren
Church to create the United Methodist denomination in 1968.

Hole was elected delegate to nine General Conferences between 1940 and
1970. In 1964 in Pittsburgh, he became the first layperson elected
secretary to a General Conference. At that gathering, the denomination's
top legislative body voted to abolish its separate jurisdiction for
black Methodist churches and absorb those into the denomination's other
five geographic jurisdictions.

He served as General Conference secretary until 1968, then stepped in
again 1970-72 when his successor resigned for health reasons.

>From 1934 until his retirement in 1972, Hole worked as treasurer and
statistician of the Southern California-Arizona Conference, which later
became the Pacific and Southwest Conference, working primarily under
Bishop Gerald H. Kennedy.

Locher said Hole was instrumental in bringing a Hawaii district into the
conference, and his administrative acumen freed up Kennedy to receive
national prominence as a Christian leader, making the cover of Time
magazine in 1964.

"Bishop Kennedy was a great preacher. Wes handled the administrative
work that enabled Bishop Kennedy to fulfill that gift," Locher said. "As
statistician of the conference, he brought facts to us without bias or
interpretation. And he did it all with a great sense of humor."

On the national denominational level, Hole served on the Methodist Board
of Pensions, Council on World Service and Finance, Board of Missions and
General Conference Entertainment Committee. He also was on the Board of
Directors of Methodist Hospital in Arcadia.

"I could almost as soon believe in God letting me down as him," Bishop
Kennedy said in giving Hole the Southern California-Arizona Layman of
the Year award in 1969.

After his retirement, United Methodist agencies and officials frequently
turned to Hole for information and counsel. "He had an incredible memory
and recollection," said Locher. "He was highly respected nationally and
a great resource to the church."

Widowed by the death of his wife, Velma, after 70 years, Hole is
survived by a daughter, Marilyn L. Peer of Los Angeles; son, John W.
Hole Jr. of Whittier, Calif.; five grandchildren; and four
great-grandchildren.

Memorial donations can be sent to the Memorial Fund at La Cañada
United Methodist Church, 104 Berkshire Place, La Cañada-Flintridge, CA
91011, or to the J. Wesley Hole Scholarship Fund at the Claremont School
of Theology, 1325 N. College Ave., Claremont, CA 91711.

# # #

*Aldrich is a freelance writer in Franklin, Tenn.

News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org


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