Rev. Dale Niswonger

Graveside service for the Rev. Dale Niswonger of Frankfort, Ky., will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Lorimier Cemetery. The Rev. Donny Ford will officiate.

Friends may call at Ford and Sons Mt. Auburn Funeral Home from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday.

Niswonger, 48, died Monday, Feb. 25, 2002, in Lexington, Ky., following a brief illness.

He was born Nov. 17, 1953, in St. Louis, son of Chester D. and Thelma "Pat" Crites Niswonger. He and Mary G. Bell were married June 12, 1983.

Niswonger was a graduate of Central High School and Southeast Missouri State University.

He was ordained into the ministry in 1974, and pastored at several local churches including Burfordville Baptist Church in Burfordville, Mo., East Cape Baptist Church in East Cape Girardeau, Ill., and Reynoldsville Baptist Church in Reynoldsville, Ill. He also held 187 revivals in Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and Arkansas.

Niswonger was a junior high and high school teacher in Perryville, Mo., and at Central High School, and was named Teacher of the Year in 1988. He was a program consultant with Kentucky Department of Education and gave numerous motivational speeches for districts across Kentucky. He was author of "Making A Difference: The Darla Pannier Story."

He was a member of Hindman Baptist Church in Hindman, Ky.

Survivors include his wife; a daughter, Mindy Niswonger of Cape Girardeau; four brothers, Tom Leggett, Dan, Marty and Steve Niswonger, all of Cape Girardeau.

He was preceded in death by his parents.