Dean Blackwell:
1931 to 2003

LONGVIEW, Texas—The Worldwide Church of God lost a treasure when longtime minister Dean Blackwell, 71, went home to be with the Lord, his late wife, Maxine, and oldest daughter Gina, at 8 a.m., Monday, April 14. Maxine died Dec. 13 (February WN).

Mr. Blackwell suffered a series of strokes and was hospitalized beginning March 14. He was taken home for hospice care April 9.

A memorial service for Mr. Blackwell is scheduled for May 4 at 2 p.m. at the New Beginnings Christian Fellowship Church in Big Sandy. Carn Catherwood, district superintendent, will perform the service.

Dean Blackwell was born Oct. 12, 1931, in Longview, Texas. He grew up in East Texas and attended Kilgore High School, and 3¹/2 years at Texas A&M, which he left early to fulfill God’s calling for him at Ambassador College.

He enrolled in Ambassador College in Pasadena in 1952. He and Maxine were married June 16, 1953, in the first wedding conducted in the meeting facility on the church property in Big Sandy. Dean graduated from Ambassador College in 1954.

Mr. Blackwell worked for the WCG for 50 years, and moved 24 times during that time. He retired in 1996 and he and Maxine returned to their native Texas. He took a part-time job at Dillards department store in Longview, mainly to help support the denomination financially.

Mr. Blackwell raised up and pastored the Big Sandy church in the summer of 1953. After he graduated from Ambassador College, he pastored the Eugene and Portland, Oregon, churches, 120 miles apart, in 1954 and 1955. Salem, Oregon, was added in 1955-56, and Mr. and Mrs. Blackwell went to all three churches every weekend, a 340-mile circuit.

Mr. Blackwell pastored the Chicago, Illinois, and St. Louis, Missouri, churches, 300 miles apart, in 1956-57. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was added in 1957-58, and they handled all three churches every weekend, an 850-mile circuit.

As district superintendent for the northern Midwest district, he supervised about 25 churches, including Denver, Colorado, the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Indiana and Michigan. As pastor of the easternmost church at that time, he handled funerals, weddings, counseling and problems in places including Canada, New York, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Kansas City became his district center in 1966, and he pastored two churches there and added St. Joseph, Missouri, and Topeka, Kansas, to the more than 22 churches in the district.

He began teaching at Ambassador College in Big Sandy in 1972 and stayed there for five years, pastoring the Big Sandy church as well.

A three-church circuit awaited the Blackwells in 1978-79—Midland-Odessa, Abilene and San Angelo, Texas—a 310-mile circuit each weekend.

The Blackwells moved to Pasadena in 1979, and Mr. Blackwell taught at Ambassador College, seniors at Imperial Schools, a Bible class for members and pastored the Pasadena congregation.

In 1985 the Blackwells moved to the Philippines so he could teach the ministers there.

In 1986 they returned to Pasadena, and Mr. Blackwell visited pastors in various areas. He was on the road 224 days, 198 days, 170 days and 212 days during the next four years. Mr. Blackwell earned a master of arts degree in religion in 1997. He was to teach at Ambassador University, but it was closed.

After retiring and moving to Texas, Mr. Blackwell taught a weekly discipleship class in the Longview church, gave a Bible study in Big Sandy each month for 20 to 25 senior citizens, preached regularly in Longview, Tyler and Texarkana, Texas, attended regional conferences in Dallas, served on the WCG board of directors, the Advisory Council of Elders, and a few other boards of the church.

He made visits to churches in Kansas City by bus, and Peoria and Chicago, Illinois, Appleton and Wausau, Wisconsin, and northern Indiana by train.

Mr. Blackwell is survived by daughters Rhonda Massey and her husband, Preston; Bonnie Hackman and her husband, Neil; a son, Jeff and his wife, Pat; grandsons Brent and Brian Hackman; and Jordan Martz; a granddaughter, Michelle Massey; three brothers and their wives, Lowell and Margaret Blackwell, Tom Blackwell, and Mike and Carol Blackwell; one sister, Bonnie Hughes; and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his wife, Maxine, and a daughter, Gina Martz.

Copyright © Grace Communion International, 2003