Gene Lewton

Gene was born on May 6, 1929 and passed away on Tuesday, February 9, 2010.
  Lewton
Gene & Marion
receiveing the VC
Distinguished
Alumni Award		 LEWTON, The Rev. Gene Curtis, passed away February 9, 2010. He was born May 6, 1929, at Camp Crook, S.D., to Frank Gorman Lewton and

Pearl Myrtle Allinson. Shortly after his birth, the family moved to Boman, N.D. He met Marion Empie, the preacher' s daughter, in 1945, and they were married August 15, 1948 at the Boman Methodist Church, where her father was the pastor. Because God had called them to be missionaries, two weeks after they were married they moved to Chicago, Ill., to attend Chicago Evangelistic Institute, where they studied Bible and missions. After graduating from Bible College in 1952, they pastured three little United Methodist churches in southern Iowa. They were appointed to be missionaries with World Gospel Mission in 1954, and arrived in Kenya, East Africa, March 17, 1955. They served with World Gospel Mission for 42 years, retired in 1994 and had been residents of Avon Park since 1997, coming from Oklahoma. Gene is survived by his wife of 61 years, Marion Alice Lewton of Avon Park; daughters,

Colleen Hawk (Terry) of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and Diane Rauschenbach (Chris) of Gilbert, Ariz.; sons, Ken Lewton of South Bend, Ind., and Dwight Lewton (Jennifer) of Marion, Ind.; sisters, Gail Murner of Woodland, Calif., and Linda Olpin (Jay) of Highland, Utah; 12 grand-children; three great-grand-children; and many nieces and nephews. Visitation will take place 10-11 a.m. with funeral services beginning at 11 a.m., Friday, February 12, 2010, at the Church of the Nazarene, 707 West Main St., Avon Park, Fla., with the Rev. Randy Rupert officiating. Burial will be in Gardens of Memory Cemetery in Marion, Ind. Memorial contributions may be made to the Church of the Nazarene in Avon Park, or World Gospel Mission, P.O. Box 948, Marion, IN 46952. Stephenson-Nelson Funeral Home, Avon Park, Fla.
 
     
     
  Marion Lewton's description of Gene's service:
     
  AS you know the funeral was at 11:00 A.M. Friday morning, following the viewing.  I don't know WHEN I have ever seen such a LINE for the viewing. It was to begin at 10:00 but people began arriving at 9:20.......and the line finally finished just about time to begin the service............over 200 joined in GENE'S CELEBRATION!!

Gene's sister, Gail came from CA.  Her son, Larry flew to CA from Washington state to come with her. Her daughter, Linda..........and 3 other nieces from ND, SD, and TX came.  It was wonderful!  Another of Gene's cousins, Lori, and husband came from Sun City Center, where they reside during the winter.

Colleen, Diane and Dwight sang, "GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS", one of Gene's favorite songs. Oh, they did a wonderful job and the Lord helped them get through that. Ken gave a wonderful Eulogy to his Dad. Jon Steury represented KENYA AND OUR MISSIONARIES THERE.....AS WELL AS OUR WORK ON THAT FIELD. He did a super job!!  Hubert Harriman, President of WGM read scripture and spoke.....oh, what a tribute he gave to my Gene...........It was precious!! Our dear pastor, Randy Rupert gave a precious message, of JOY because we know where Gene went..........and where he is rejoicing with Jesus...TODAY, the one HE LOVED AND SERVED MOST OF HIS LIFE!!  Dave Randolph sang and led the singing...was wonderful, Wahnita Learn played both the organ and piano. ALL in ALL, it was a time of CELEBRATION!!!

The precious ladies of our church made a wonderful, wonderful meal for us and many friends.  THEY EVEN SET THE TABLES WITH CHINA...........IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!   YES.......GOD IS GOOD........ALL THE TIME!    I CAN ONLY PRAISE HIM!!