PROMOTED TO GLORY

Brigadier Faith E. Ayres (R)

Brigadier Faith Evangeline Ayres was recently promoted to Glory from Old Orchard Beach, Maine, after devoted service as a Salvation Army officer.

Born to Commandant and Mrs. John Parkins in 1907 in Bangor, Maine, Faith answered the call to officership in 1927. Her first appointments took her to corps and the Roxbury Hospital in Mass. After her marriage to Captain Kenneth Ayres they served in headquarters appointments until moving to USO clubs, first in Falmouth, Mass. and later in San Diego, Calif.

With her husband she served as manager of the Men’s Social Service Center in San Jose, Calif. After his passing in 1957, she continued her ministry as superintendent of the Pinehurst Lodge in San Francisco. She retired as director of the Family Welfare Bureau in 1967 after 39 years of devoted service.

Through the ailments of recent years she has been sustained by her comrades and by the loving support of her son, Kenneth Robert. She is tenderly remembered by him and her two grandchildren, Carol and Janet Ayres.

The funeral service was at Old Orchard Beach Citadel Corps with Commissioner Bramwell Tripp (R) officiating. Lt. Colonel Albert Avery led the committal service at Kensico Cemetery in New York. Cards and expressions of sympathy may be sent to Kenneth Ayres at 5 Society Avenue, Old Orchard Beach ME 04064.

Brigadier John Hunter (R)

Brigadier John Hunter was promoted to Glory from the Royalwood Care Center in Torrance, Calif.

John Hunter was born in 1902 in Glasgow, Scotland, coming to this country with his parents as a young child. Commissioned as a Salvation Army officer from the Eastern Training College Record Breaker Session in 1923, his first assignment was to Alliance, Ohio. He married Evelyn Parson, whom he had met on the train en route to the training college, in 1925.

Together they served in corps appointments in Massachusetts and Connecticut until 1941, when he opened the first USO Club in New England, at Onset, Mass. They next moved USO Desert Operations, San Bernardino, Calif., and then to the Los Angeles Downtown Red Shield USO Club. Following USO service, they were appointed to Whittier, Calif., as corps officers, until retirement in 1967. Then, six years of extended service at divisional headquarters in Los Angeles completed 50 years of unbroken service.

Hunter’s dear wife, Evelyn, was promoted to Glory in 1983 and his son, John, Jr, in 1992. He is survived by his daughter, Lt. Colonel Evelyn Hunter, Northwest divisional commander. Cards and messages of sympathy may be sent to Lt. Col. Hunter at 418 N. 157th Ct., Seattle WA 98133.

The funeral service was held at the Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, with Lt. Col. Herb Wiseman (R) officiating.

Major Robert Engel (R)

Major Robert Engel was recently taken suddenly ill at his home in Bellingham, Wash., and was promoted to Glory soon afterward at a local hospital. He suffered a cerebral aneurism while working on their retirement home.

Robert was born in Boseman, Mont., in 1930. A third generation Salvationist, his parents were Colonels George and Esther Engel, and his grandfather was Major C. F. Engel.

He served in the U.S. Air Force, where he served as part of the Berlin Air Lift and then in Japan during the Korean conflict. In 1952 he received his honorable discharge and married before entering the Training College in San Francisco. He was commissioned with the Great Hearts Session in 1960.

Following corps officer appointments in Sheridan, Wyo., Ogden, Utah, and Redding, Calif., he began 29 years with the Adult Rehabilitation Centers, including appointments as administrator in Tucson, Ariz.; Santa Monica and Bakersfield, Calif.; and Portland, Ore.

In 1987 he married Beverly Yaniro, and their combined families include Charles, William and Elizabeth Engel and Brian, Michael, Kevin and Kathleen Chamberlain. They served together at the San Bernardino, Van Nuys, and the Lytton ARC, from which they retired on December 1995. He is survived by his wife, their children, several grandchildren and a great-granddaughter. He is also survived by his father, Colonel George Engel (R) and stepmother, Colonel Florence Engel (R) of Bellingham.

The memorial service was held at the Bellingham Corps with Lt. Colonel Donald P. Sather officiating. Interment was at Green Acres Cemetery in Bellingham. A memorial fund will be set up for him at the corps, where he was a faithful soldier during his brief retirement. Messages of condolence may be sent to the family home at 2529 Silves Court, Everson WA 98247.

Colonel Railton Genge (R)

Colonel Railton Genge was recently promoted to Glory from a nursing home in Lancaster, Calif. Retired from the Central Territory as Men’s Social Service Secretary, he had since resided in Southern California.

Railton Genge was born in 1908 to Salvation Army parents in Stockton, Calif. He was commissioned with the Central Territory Trailblazers Session in 1929 and became a full captain after his first year of officership. He married Pro. Lt. Margaret Murphy in 1932, and after one corps appointment they entered the Men’s Social Service Department, from which they retired in 1973.

He is survived by his daughter, Peggy Garrett, and his son, Stephen, of San Diego. A memorial service was held at the Pasadena Tabernacle Corps. Cards and condolences may be sent to Mr. and Mrs. Michael Garrett at 37353 Hazel Court, Palmdale CA 93550.

Envoy Allie DeWitt

The Call to her heavenly Home came suddenly for Envoy Allie LaVerne DeWitt, of Saxman, Alaska.

Born in Riverside, Calif., in 1928, she entered the Training College for Officers in San Francisco and was appointed in 1947 to Juneau, Alaska. At her next appointment in Wrangell, she met Charles DeWitt, and they married in 1949.

They served as Salvation Army officers in Kake, Haines, Angoon and Saxman, and she was a junior soldier sergeant in the Saxman Corps until 1995. Though she was not well for the last year of her life, she still worked diligently for her Lord. She was part of a group going to Klawock, Alaska, to see if the work should be reopened.

She is survived by her husband, Envoy Charles M. DeWitt of Saxman; son, Charles of Haines; daughter Shannon Lemons of Craig; brother, Alvin Nash of Arizona; her sister, Major Dolores Rivitt (R) of Anchorage, and two grandchildren.

The memorial service was conducted at Saxman by Major Harold Brodine, and an additional service was held in Haines. Messages of sympathy may be sent to Major Rivitt at 2135 Minerva Way, Anchorage AK 99515.

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