"To the Dentler family, The many wonderful memories of times shared with your family will always be among the best. All of you are in our thoughts."
In loving memory of
Rev. Howard Dentler
August 11, 2013
The Rev. Howard Dentler, who served as the deputy general minister and president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) for nearly 20 years under four denominational leaders, died July 3 in Mount Pleasant, IA. He was 90. A Celebration of Life service will be conducted at 1:30 p.m. Aug., 11 in First Presbyterian Church in Mount Pleasant by the Rev. James P. Johnson, president emeritus of the Christian Church Foundation. Inurnment will follow in White Oak Cemetery. Memorials will be placed in the Howard E. and Mary Lou Dentler Fund of the Christian Church Foundation that will endow ministries of Week of Compassion, Pension Fund and Lexington Theological Seminary. Olson~Powell Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements. Rev. Dentler was a native of Chicago. He married his high school sweetheart, Mary Lou Schweidler, in 1942. She died in 2012. After service in the Army during World War II, he received a bachelor's degree in business from Stetson University in Deland, FL, in 1948, and operated his parents' hotel and his own motel in Orlando, FL. In 1954, he answered the call to ministry and the Dentlers - along with their two children and a third on the way - moved to Lexington, KY, to attend the College of the Bible, now known as Lexington Theological Seminary. While a student in the late 1950s, he served First Christian Church of Mays Lick and then was invited by the elders of the Disciples African-American Mays Lick congregation to be their Sunday preacher. The elders noted how the Dentler children had invited the black children to play with them, and how the Dentlers walked through the neighborhood, greeting everyone. He graduated from seminary in 1957 with honors. While serving as pastor of Central Christian Church in Jacksonville, FL, in 1961, Rev. Dentler was called to join the Indianapolis, IN, staff of Dr. Gaines Cook, executive secretary of the International Convention of the Christian Churches - the forerunner of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). With his experience in hotel management and business, he was put in charge of the annual meeting, which had an attendance of 10,000 Christians from across the church. Rev. Dentler was soon assigned to the Council of Agencies, which was composed of representatives of the various agencies reporting directly or indirectly to the International Convention. This assignment provided him with the opportunity to become well acquainted with the leaders of the denomination and to provide leadership and influence among them. Asked by Dr. A. Dale Fiers to be his deputy general minister in 1968 following the Disciples' restructure, Rev. Dentler continued to oversee General Assemblies and a wide array of regional meetings and gatherings of the General Board, Administrative Committee and other task groups. In all, he supervised 17 General Assemblies and International Conventions. Rev. Dentler also served on the boards of the National Benevolent Association, Christian Board of Publication, and, for 12 years, the Pension Fund of the Christian Church. He was a trustee for Lexington Theological Seminary. Rev. Dentler was a founding member of the Religious Conference Management Association in 1972 that helps train meeting planners for denominations and church related intuitions about hotel negotiations and other major issues related to the planning of large meeting. RCMA, based in Indianapolis, continues today. From 1975 until his retirement, he was chair of the Week of Compassion Committee, the relief, refugee and development mission fund of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) that seeks to equip and empower disciples to alleviate the suffering of others through disaster response, humanitarian aid, sustainable development and the promotion of mission opportunities. He also served on the board of Heifer International, whose mission is to work with communities to end hunger and poverty and care for the Earth. Heifer is most well-known for is distribution of more than 30 kinds of animals to communities around the world. Because of his passion for these ministries, Rev. Dentler was asked to preach at the General Assembly in San Antonio in 1975. It was and remains one of the finest sermons delivered at the Assembly. Most of the church had only seen Rev. Dentler as the meeting planner but that evening in worship at the General Assembly exposed him as a passionate spokesman for the Gospel and especially for the ministries represented in Week of Compassion and Heifer International. In retirement, the Dentlers first moved to Iowa, then to Jacksonville, FL, and then back to Iowa in 2007 to be near family. Rev. Dentler is survived by a son, Bruce (Ann) Dentler of Spokane, WA; two daughters, Bonnie (Jack) Kremer of Mt. Pleasant, IA, and Patti (Craig) VanSandt of Rock Island, IL; a daughter-in-law, Cyndi Dentler of Alabama; fourteen grandchildren; and fifteen great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife; his parents; a son, David Dentler; and a brother and sister.
Tributes
"It was with great sadness that I heard of my Uncle Howard's passing. I will always remember the conversations he and I had, when I was a child. He reinforced with me and helped me to explore who Jesus was, and how his teachings are important. His life work is inspiring to me. His voice over the phone was of great comfort to me after the passing of both of my parents. His humor, stories of his father and grandparents, and his living example of humanitarianism all greatly influenced my life. I still to this day use the story and photo of him walking in Dallas in 1966 with Dr. King in my history classes."
"Every time I saw Howard Dentler, I thanked him for performing my parents' wedding ceremony (Rev. Ed & Elaine Adams). They were all fresh out of College of the Bible (now Lexington Theological seminary). I remember him through the years as a pastor, gifted speaker & thorough organizer. Most of all, I remember him as a great friend to our family. We will miss him. Our thoughts & prayers are with the Dentler family."
"Howard was a friend & fellow seminarian in the College of the Bible beside being a great leader and preacher in the Church. I am proud to be his friend & fellow Christian. May his life & ministry continue to influence the lives of his children & people all over the world through the thousands of lives he has enriched. My prayers continue with all the Dentler Children. J. Marion McElveen and Family"
"My thoughts and prayers are with Rev. Dentler's family. I grew up at Downey Ave. Christian Church, which is where the Dentlers attended. I saw Rev. Dentler as a giant of a father to Patti. Kind and gentle. I know this is a time of hurt, so I pray that Patti and the rest of the family feel God's warmth and comfort around them as they continue their lives with the ever present whispers of guidance from their folks. And I thank the family for sharing this good man with the denomination."
"I knew Howard through my service as a member of the General Board and the Administrative Committee during the 70's and 80's. I found him to be a gifted administrator/organizer, including getting us General Board members, who wanted to do so, to games of the White Sox, Cardinals and Reds on nights off during Board meetings held in Chicago, St. Louis and Cincinnati, respectively. Agendas were always ready in advance and the details of transportation and lodging for these meetings were consistently clear and accurate. I heard his sermon preached at the General Assembly. It was what has been called a "stem-winder." It was excellent and revealed a side of Howard that neither I, nor many others, was aware of before that night. We Disciples were blessed by his ministry over many, many years! Grace and peace to all of you who make up his family, as well as his network of friends and colleagues in ministry. Ed Linberg LaVerne, CA."
"My sympathies to the Dentler family in your loss of such a great man. I recall as a little child visiting my dad at the Missions Building and running into Dr. Dentler, who at first appeared large and imposing to a little kid, but was in truth a kind and gentle man. It was always good to see this Disciples legend running the Assembly from his table in the front of the hall and knowing that he was a friend of the family."
"My thoughts and prayers are with the family. He will go down in memory as a great Disciple leader."
"My thoughts and prayers are with the family at the death of Howard. I was honored to be a staff colleague for many years at the Disciples offices in Indianapolis where he was an inspiring mentor, even when putting me in my place at appropriate times. The Disciples of Christ certainly did not know the depth of his faith and compassionate passion until his sermon at the General Assembly near the end of his active ministry. But those who knew him best and worked closely with him were well aware of his witness and sense of justice behind the stoic appearance. We have been blessed by God's gift of Howard in our midst and pray His continuing care now that Howard has been released from this life."