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Edward D. Auchard died Friday at Hillside Country Living, where he was a resident. Auchard was born Aug. 8, 1920, on a farm near May Day, in Riley County Kansas.
He was educated in the public schools of Kansas, attending one-room country schools during the elementary grades, and completed high school in three years. He enrolled in Kansas State College (now KSU) in 1937. While there he preached for a Union Sunday school meeting in the one-room Cedar Creek School north of Manhattan. He transferred to York College in Nebraska from where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1941. During college years in Nebraska he was student pastor of United Brethren churches at Prairie Gem (near Aurora) and at McCool Junction and Bethel. He was pastor of the United Brethren Church in Riverdale, Calif., from 1941 to 1944.
In 1944, Edward married Hattie Elma Breckenridge. They are the parents of one daughter, Mrs. Wilma Joanne Senefsky (William) of Lake Elsinore, Calif. They have three grandchildren, Mark Adam, Cari Lyn and Christi Ann (Mr. Ben Koehlinger), all of Orange County, Calif. They are the “American parents” of Hisashi Yamamoto of Japan.
In 1944 the newlyweds moved to St. Louis, Mo., where Edward began a survey for the United Brethren Church. He also attended Eden Theological Seminary of the Evangelical and Reformed Church. They moved to Dayton, Ohio, where Edward was awarded the bachelor of theology (now master of ministry) degree in 1948 by Bonebrake Theology Seminary (now United Theological Seminary of Trotwood, Ohio). While in seminary, Edward served as student pastor at Maple Park United Brethren Church. In 1947-49 he was assigned as pastor of the United Brethren Church in Raymore, Mo. While There, Edward became pastor of the Presbyterian Church also. The attempt to form a federated congregation was rejected by the Missouri Conference of the United Brethren Church.
Edward was called to Grace Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, Mo., and served as pastor from 1947 to 1953. He completed the master of theology degree in Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 1952. He became associate pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Pontiac, Mich., 1953-57.
From 1957-75, Edward was pastor of the Orchard Lake Presbyterian Church, Presbyterian, in Orchard Lake, Mich. He represented the Detroit Presbytery at General Assembly in 1959 and 1967. In 1967, the year of the riots in Detroit, Edward was moderator of the Presbytery of Detroit which included 105 congregations at the time.
Edward and Elma came to Bryan where Edward served as pastor of First Presbyterian Church from 1975-88. In 1982 he participated in a pulpit exchange with St. Rollax Church of Scotland in Glasgow.
After retirement, Edward and Elma visited Presbyterian churches in Thailand, Korea and Japan. They visited China with a group from the Worldwide Ministries Division of the Presbyterian Church. They served abroad in the Pastors Beyond program associated with Wycliffe Bible Translators, in Kenya, Columbia, Brazil, Surname and Mexico.
Edward served as interim pastor in Presbyterian churches in Pemberville and Paulding, Ohio, and Jonesville, Mich., after retirement and represented the Presbytery of Maumee Valley at General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 2000. He has written a weekly column for the Bryan Times since 1991.
Edward and Elma resided in Bryan until 2009. They moved to Hillside Country Living where he lived until his death.
Visitation for Rev. Edward D. Auchard will be held Sunday, December 21, 2014 from 2:00 – 6:00 p.m. in the Oberlin-Turnbull Funeral Home, 206 North Lynn Street, Bryan. Funeral services for Rev. Edward d. Auchard will be held at 11:00 a.m. Monday, December 22, 2014 at the Bryan First Presbyterian Church, 506 Oxford Drive, Bryan, Ohio with Pastor Barry Sweet officiating. Visitation will also be held one hour prior to the service on Monday at the church. Transportation of his casketed remains will them be made to Plumer-Overlease Funeral Home, 723 North 1st Street, Stockton, Kansas 67669 where graveside funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. Monday, December 29, 2014 in Woodston City Cemetery, Woodston, Kansas.
In lieu of flowers, the family has requested those planning an expression of sympathy to consider memorial contributions be made to First Presbyterian Church, 506 Oxford Drive, Bryan, Ohio 43506 or to the charity of the donor’s choice.