Fred D. Whitelaw

Preaching was never an option with Fred D. Whitelaw. He was taught that if you had talent and wanted God’s approval you had to use it. Older family members and respected Christian friends prompted him to become a much admired boy-preacher from his mid-teens. The desire to preach “without fear or favor” led him to choose “tent making” instead of full-time employment as a gospel preacher.

Sister Joyce’s unwavering faith in God and her indomitable balancing of housekeeping, caring for five children, and working full-time in the family’s confinement animal breeding business made it possible for her husband to be gone conducting about 300-plus full length gospel meetings during the first 25-odd years of marriage.

Eventually almost all preaching appointments were limited to a maximum of 125 miles from home. The daily commuting was physically draining but he was now home with his family every night. He and Sister Joyce have always been early risers. The next morning he would “turn to” while she cared for the children’s needs. After a bit she would join him with the non-school-age children in tow. The day’s workload would then begin in earnest with interruptions only for dinner and unanticipated emergencies.

If he had a gospel meeting in progress he would “knock off” early in time to shower, dress, and grab a quick sandwich. Otherwise everything was normal until suppertime which was just before or after dark. Sundays were the exception when he occasionally had to leave sometimes before daylight to begin a new and distant gospel meeting….and be gone all day.

Time changes all temporal things. By age 50 spinal arthritis, complications from multiple kidney surgeries, and later diagnosed inoperable Chiari Malformation sounded the death knell to his beloved gospel meeting work. Transition from endless miles of travel and the free flowing Scripture filled sermons for which he was so well known proved extremely difficult.

Since 2016 he could only preach locally from his wheelchair twice every Sunday. He unknowingly preached for the last time at both Sunday services during the late spring of 2018.