Illinois Great Rivers Conference 2025 Journal-Yearbook
School, she needed to walk the tracks of the T P and W railroad from the farm into Glasford. As a teen, she also helped her mother convalesce from the 1942 birth of her second brother, Paul, and to help raise her younger brother, Marvin. When she was 16, she became the first person in her family to attend college, when she enrolled at Bradley University. While at Bradley, she met and fell in love with Charles H. Harper, a military veteran of World War II. She came to share his passion to return to East Asia as missionaries to help reconstruct society and develop the Methodist Church system in Korea. He had seen the devastation and suffering of war during his military service. He completed his bachelor degree very quickly at Bradley, was ordained, married Elva, and served as minister to sev- eral churches in small towns. Finally, he and Elva set out for universities on the East Coast for further education and language studies needed to fully involve themselves in the hard work ahead of them. While living in Fort Lee, N.J., ministering and studying at Union Theological Seminary, Charles and Elva welcomed their first child, Merridee, and, then, two years hence, Doug- las. These children were the first grandchildren for Zella and Clyde. Another daughter, Kay Marlene, was born in Korea some years later. All three children spent much of their youth in Korea, primarily attending English speaking schools. While serving 26 years in Korea, Elva established a social service center, an orphanage, churches, a leprosy colony, and prosthetics and burn clinics. She continued her educa- tion at Ewha Woman’s University, having to learn Chinese characters for formal writing in Korea at that time. She obtained a Master’s in Women’s Health, doing her fieldwork throughout the Korean countryside with a team of nurses. After returning to the United States for the last time, Elva earned a PhD. in Public Health from Southern Illinois University. For a time, she taught Public Health at Western Illinois University. Then, moving to Peoria, she continued to work as a Christian school principal until caring for Charles as his health declined, and, finally, for her mother, Zella, with whom she shared her home until Zella’s demise in 2004. Over the years following service in Korea, Elva maintained contact and friendship with the many Koreans and Americans who shared their experiences in Korea. The success and achievements of the Korean churches are a monument to Elva’s and Charles’ and their friends’ work there. Elva is survived by her three children, Merridee (David Blumberg) Harper of Greenville, S.C.; C. Douglas and Kay Harper, both of Peoria; a brother, Paul Schoaff; four grandchil- dren and four great-grandchildren. Funeral services for Elva D. Harper were held May 16 at Hanna City United Methodist Church. Burial followed at Cottonwood Cemetery.
David L. Hurley 1934-2024 The Rev. David L. Hurley, 90, of Fairfield, Ohio, and IGRC retired clergy member, died Dec. 31, 2024.
Born Jan. 10, 1934, in Freeport, David was the son of the Rev. Dr. Hubert G. and Helen (Needham) Hurley. He married Carolyn Jen- nings in 1957 and together they raised their family throughout the Northeast and Midwestern United States. Rev. Hurley began his 41 years of ministry in the former New York East Conference in
254 Memoirs
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