Marshall Ervin

RUSHVILLE, Ill. -- Funeral for the Rev. Marshall H. Ervin of Rushville, Ill., was held Tuesday at First United Methodist Church in Rushville. The Rev. Scott Henley officiated. Burial was in Rushville City Cemetery.

Worthington Funeral Home handled arrangements.

Announcement courtesy of Ford and Sons Funeral Home.

Ervin, 85, died Saturday, Dec. 1, 2001, at Culbertson Memorial Hospital in Rushville.

He was born April 8, 1916, in Cape Girardeau, son of Marshall L. and Ethel Beach Ervin. He and Robbie V. Williams were married March 22, 1936, in Corning, Ark.

Ervin received a bachelor of arts degree from Asbury College, a bachelor of divinity and master of religious education degree from Garrett Evangelical Seminary, and a doctor of divinity degree at MacMurray College.

He was an ordained clergyman of the United Methodist Church and served as Decatur district superintendent six years. He served various churches in the Illinois Conference, and served as executive director five years of Wesley Towers Retirement Center in Mattoon, Ill.

Ervin retired from active ministry in 1982, and was named pastor emeritus of First United Methodist Church in Rushville. He organized and served as director 10 years of the development department of Culbertson Memorial Hospital. He also published three books.

He was named a Paul Harris Fellow and was awarded the Service Above Self Award by Rushville Rotary Club.

Survivors include his wife; three sons, Marshall Ervin of Macomb, Ill., Jim Ervin of Rushville, Dennis Ervin of Omaha, Neb.; a daughter, Patricia Boyd of Littleton, Ill.; nine grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by two sisters and two brothers.