Earl Clayton Bateman, Sr., 1905-2000

  Earl C. Bateman Sr., 95, formerly of Waynesboro, Va., died at Our Lady of Peace in Charlottesville, Va., on Dec. 30, 2000. He was born Feb. 20, 1905, in Tyrone, Penn., the son of Minnie and J. Clay Bateman.

  As a young man, he was converted in a service conducted by the Rev. Sawyer, and, at 22, answered the call to the ministry. He graduated from Shenandoah College at Dayton Va., in 1929, and his first pastorate was at Altoona, Penn.

  He married the former Ruby See, from Roanoke, Va., and the next year he went to Center County, Penn., and served Wayne Church. In 1935, he transferred to the Virginia Conference of the E.U.B. Church and served in Pendleton County, W.Va., for five years. He next served at Blairton Charge near Martinsburg W.Va., and graduated from Shepherd College in 1942.

  From then on, he taught school and also preached. From 1947 to 1957, he served the Alpine Charge (which was then the Berkeley Springs Circuit of six churches) and taught at Berkeley Springs High School. He was the designer of the Alpine Charge parsonage, which was built when he was pastor. He started youth groups in all six churches and had wonderful Christmas plays and Bible schools.

  After teaching in Germany in the American High Schools, he retired to Waynesboro, Va., where he continued to fill the pulpit for many pastors in the area when he was needed.

  He is survived by a son, Earl C. Bateman Jr,, and his wife, Mae Anna, of Laurel, Md.; a daughter, Virginia Ann, and her husband, the Rev. Charles T. Martindale, of Carroll, Ohio; a daughter, Caroline, and her husband, Presley R. Phillips, of Waynesboro, Va.; and a daughter, Patricia, and her husband, Jack Roby, of Savage, Md.; nine grandchildren, and 23 great-grandchildren.

  His first wife, Ruby, died in 1956, and his second wife, Lucie, died in 1999.