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Rodney G. Peters
Rodney first worked in small churches in southwest Iowa in 1955, assisting an elder from Grace Presbyterian Church in Council Bluffs, who itinerated as a lay pastor. He never stopped serving congre...view moreRodney first worked in small churches in southwest Iowa in 1955, assisting an elder from Grace Presbyterian Church in Council Bluffs, who itinerated as a lay pastor. He never stopped serving congregations after that—graduating from Parsons College, Fairfield, Iowa, in 1961 and from McCormick Seminary, Chicago, Illinois, in 1965. Since then, his career has included large and small churches, a chaplaincy at Wichita Presbyterian Manor and Wesley Hospital, Wichita, Kansas, and a variety of denominational committee responsibilities.
Following McCormick, he was called to Jackson, Michigan, then back to Oak Park, Illinois for seven years, then to Clarksville, Iowa for another seven, next to Conway Springs and Wichita, Kansas for eleven years, and to Crane, Missouri for thirteen years. After retiring from full-time pastorates, he and his wife moved to Neosho, Missouri, where he took a part-time pastorate for eleven years at Bethany Church in Joplin, Missouri. He concluded his work at Bethany in August 2015, exactly sixty years after he began preaching. However, this retirement was short-lived, and two months later he was called to serve in Scammon, Kansas, until he became ill in December 2017.
He married Sandra Redmond Phillips in 1970. His own biography read, “We have four fantastic children with families, including five exciting young grandchildren. Our wonderful family is our proudest achievement. Sandy has spent the last ten years teaching at Crowder College in Neosho, in the fields of history, cultural diversity, and creative writing.”
Rodney died peacefully, at Freeman Heart Institute, Joplin, Missouri on March 2, 2018. During those final days, he prayed aloud with his family and friends. One memorable prayer included his words, “I pray for all people, young and old.” His future plans were stricken by his death, but being forward-looking, he had written: “Next, we plan to continue to travel, spend more time at a life-long interest in organic gardening, and pursue long-neglected interests—for me that will be to do some writing and woodworking. God has richly blessed us, and we look forward to the years ahead.”
This short biography is dedicated to my husband, Rodney Gene Peters, for fulfilling his lifetime vocation to the ministry in Christian service. Rodney was a devoted husband and father to our children: Stephanie Lee (Phillips) Markstein, her husband, David, and their daughters Arielle and Mackenzie; Shannon Lee (Peters) Banks, her husband, Richard, and their daughter Maddie; Raleigh Gene Peters and his wife, Laura Leigh (Peelor) Peters; and Samantha Lee (Peters) Terrell, her husband, Joshua, and their sons Jennings and Sterling. Rodney and I were surrogate parents to Gordon Jack Welch, a high school member of Rodney’s Oak Park Presbyterian Church Youth Group. As year-long sponsors in a Rotary program (Youth for Understanding), we hosted exchange students from Rauma, Finland, who were brothers: Ari, Risto, and Matti Nyfors. Another Youth for Understanding student, Ole Naesse, from Bergen, Norway, also lived with us. Katsuaki Otake, from my class at the Suzuki Institute, Newman College (now Newman University) in Wichita, Kansas, and his wife Yumi, became part of our family. My father, L.W. (Pete) Redmond, as well as Stephanie’s grandfather, Scott Phillips, shared our home.view less