The Rev. Curtis Chambers (1924-2015)

Before his retirement as a minister of the United Methodist Church, he served as a pastor of local churches in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Louisiana and Tennessee, as a church curriculum and magazine editor and as a church communications executive and briefly as a college professor, according to an obituary in the Terre Haute Tribune Star.

In addition to his denominational service, Chambers was an officer for numerous ecumenical organizations, including the National Council of Churches, the Religion Communication Congress and WACC. During his years of service to WACC, the Rev. Dr. Hans W. Florin was General Secretary.

He was ordained a minister in 1954 in the Evangelical United Brethren Church which merged with Methodists to form the United Methodist Church in 1968. He served as a member of the Commission on Church Union and was co-editor of the Plan of Union and, later, as co-editor of the first Book of Discipline for the newly formed United Methodist Church in 1970.

He retired from service in the Louisiana Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1990 and he and his wife moved to Terre Haute in 2004. He served as interim minister at several Methodist churches in Terre Haute.

He earned five degrees in higher education: Th.B., Malone University (1946); A.B., Indiana Wesleyan University (1947); B.D. (Th.M.), Asbury Theological Seminary (1950); S.T.M. (Th.M.), Temple University (1955); S.T.D. (Th.D.), Temple University (1960). In addition he was awarded an honorary D.D. by Lebanon Valley College in 1967.

He is survived by his wife, Anna June Winn, four children and seven grandchildren.

A celebration of life is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 10, 2015 at the United Methodist Temple in Terre Haute.