Elmer Niles Hassell, 1908-2000

  "His spirit to God, His Memory in our Heart, His body to the Earth."

  Elmer N. Hassell was born January 2, 1908, in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of a Saban immigrant and a German descendent, the second of seven children. His mother passed away when he was 16 and, at 17, he left the family home, completing night school while apprenticed as a carpenter. He continued working as a journeyman carpenter until "The Great Depression" when he then stood for a Maryland State scholarship exam. In 1929, he was rewarded with a four-year paid education at Western Maryland College. Elmer graduated with a degree to teach biology in 1933. While attending a youth religious retreat in 1935, he was encouraged to attend Wesley Seminary, then adjacent to Western Maryland College at Westminster Maryland.

  The Rev. Hassell graduated in June 1937 with a Master of Sacred Theology degree and was assigned by the Maryland Conference to its Wallace Memorial Methodist Church in the Fox Hill section of Hampton.

  In April of 1938 He married young Evelyn May Bodwell, a native of Washington, D.C.

  After unification of the Methodist churches in 1939, he was assigned to serve Oak Grove Methodist Church in the Norfolk District. Elmer went on to serve churches in Luray, Richmond, Franklin, Petersburg, Lynchburg, Lexington, Poquoson, Farmville, Falls Church and Hampton. During his tenure, he wrote for various church publications including the Advocate, The Upper Room, and the Guidepost. He served as member and chairperson of the Virginia Church Temperance League for many years, appearing regularly before the Virginia General Assembly.

  He was well-known for his sermons and was a three-time recipient of the Valley Forge Foundation George Washington Medal. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree from his alma mater, Western Maryland, in 1958. The Boy Scouts of America presented him the Silver Beaver Award for his service to Scouting.

  After retiring in 1973, he returned to Farmville where he assumed the chaplaincy of Southside Community Hospital and was also appointed a director on the National Association of Retired Persons Defensive Driving Program. In 1985, he began regular religious services at Brookview Nursing Home. He continued these services through October of 1999. He served 62 years in the ministry of the Lord being called to conduct services for the Heavenly Church on March 5, 2000, his earthly duties fulfilled.

  The graveside services were read by Rev. C.B. King, Farmville District superintendent, from the "Old Ritual" on March 9, 2000, and he was laid to rest only a few blocks from Evelyn’s childhood home and Rhode Island Methodist Church, where he had been assigned as a student minister in Washington, D.C.

  Dr. James W. Turner, a close friend, conducted a Memorial Service in Farmville United Methodist Church and used these words: "We give thanks for the privilege which has been ours, to share life with Elmer Niles Hassell, as we recall the qualities of a wonderful life which made others love and admire him, for all goodness and truth which now lives on in the lives of others, his son, Henry; granddaughter, Stephanie; and great-granddaughter, Erin, and by his witness has made the world a better place. We thank you for memories of Elmer, who heard your call to the ministry of the church and thought of it not as a call for a few years but for life. In this spirit he gave himself without reservation to 36 years of active service as a pastor and leader in the Methodist Church and after retirement to ministry among the sick and the elderly for many more years. We thank you, Heavenly Father, that Elmer thought of his life as given to him for the purpose of giving to others as a witness to your Divine love and grace."

— Henry Niles Hassell