Pastor's wife was member of church's state board

11/17/2001

Mary F. Redmon, a member of the state board of her denomination in the late 1990s who served congregations in northwest Ohio where her husband was pastor for nearly 30 years, died Thursday in St. Luke's Hospital. She was 80.

Mrs. Redmon had been in poor health about six weeks, with heart, kidney, and lung problems, her husband, the Rev. Luther Redmon, said.

Her role in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) since the couple moved to northwest Ohio in 1961 had been to support her husband's work. That changed in 1995, when a northwest Ohio denomination representative said she should serve on the state regional board.

She was elected by the regional assembly.

“Apparently, the people had been watching. They knew she had a lot of input in whatever happened in our churches,” her husband said.

“She said, `You're the one who ought to be on the board,' but they wanted her viewpoint,” he said. “She never hesitated to speak up in a meeting.”

She was a board member until last year.

Her husband was pastor of Elmore-Genoa Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) from 1961 to 1970 and of the Bowling Green Christian Church from 1970 to 1983.

“Mary never wanted to take a leading role,” her husband said. “Most of her work was in support of my work. She was very observant of the people. She was more sensitive to people and to issues that might arise.”

Some church members were able to speak with her in a way they couldn't with the pastor.

“People knew they could trust her,” he said.

Her husband arrived in 1983 at New Hope Christian Church, then a new congregation meeting at Springfield Local junior and senior high schools.

“She was really taking more of a lead role, canvassing the neighborhood, looking for people not involved in a church,” her husband said. The congregation built a church, which opened in 1988, and Mr. Redmon - and his wife - retired the next year.

Karen Ruscoe, a charter member of New Hope, said: “She was a very well respected person. She always gave everybody such backing.”

Mrs. Redmon was born in Wichita, Kan., where she graduated from high school and business college. While in Lexington, Ky., where she attended Transylvania University, she directed a YWCA teen program and was a secretary at a mental hospital.

Surviving are her husband, Luther, whom she married Feb. 3, 1950; daughter, Becky Redmon; son, Greg Redmon, and two grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 2 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. tomorrow in Bersticker-Scott Mortuary. Memorial services will be at 3 p.m. on Nov. 25 in Hampton Park Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), where she was a member.

The family requests tributes to Hampton Park Christian Church.