Coast Guard veteran, business owner answered call to ministry
William “Bill” Erving got his start in ministry at Columbia International University in South Carolina in a prison ministries program. Later, he would return to a prison to minister to the man responsible for his son’s death.
Born in Pittsburgh’s East End and raised in Fox Chapel, the Coast Guard veteran put God and family first. He died Oct. 26 after battling tumors on his lower spine for several years. He was 81.
Mr. Erving attended Shady Side Academy, Mercersburg Academy and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., before enlisting in the Coast Guard in 1955. He was stationed in Kodiak, Alaska.
“Bill put in for Hawaii and Alaska, and of course we got Alaska,” said Mary Erving, his wife of 60 years. “But it was a perfect way to start a marriage.”
When Mr. Erving first saw Mrs. Erving, he told a bystander that she was the girl he was going to marry. He told Mrs. Erving the same thing when they met at a party a few years later — “There’s a line I’ve never heard before,” Mrs. Erving said — and struck up a correspondence. The pair wed in the summer of 1957.
After finishing his stint in the Coast Guard, Mr. Erving worked for IBM in Texas and later became the owner of his own company locally, Fire Safety Supply. He came to Christ while attending Christ Church of Fox Chapel in Pittsburgh, sold his company, paid all his debts, and moved with his growing family to South Carolina to attend Bible college.
“He had no intention of becoming a minister at the time,” said Mary “Mimi” Erving, his youngest daughter. “We moved south with $10,000, rented a home and trusted that God would open and close doors as needed.”
Mr. Erving took a paper route, driving around in a mustard yellow Volkswagen “Bug.” “I got five cents for each paper I helped with when I’d ride with him on his route,” Ms. Erving said. Mr. Erving began his prison ministries during college before relocating once more, to Des Plaines, Ill., to pastor a Christian Missionary Alliance Church in July 1980.
“He felt called,” Ms. Erving said. “He was a preacher through and through; it just took him a little time to realize it.”
Mr. Erving shepherded three other CMA churches and assisted other organizations with ministry and development.
When his oldest son and namesake was murdered in 1987, Mr. Erving took some time away from leading a church to heal. He eventually confronted his son’s killer in prison and forgave him and ministered to him.
His last church ministry was in Portersville, Butler County, after which he moved back to Pittsburgh, ultimately returning to Fox Chapel. Mr. Erving became a member of the congregation at Christ Church of Fox Chapel (the church where he found his faith decades ago) before spending his final year in senior care, where, according to Ms. Erving, the staff came to love his presence. “They looked forward to going to work with him there, “she said. “They’ll miss him.”
“Once he was in hospice, he came to run the show, really,” said Alex Shuttleworth, pastor of Christ Church of Fox Chapel. “Every time I went to visit him as his pastor, I always wondered who was pastoring who by the end. He touched so many lives so quietly, and he was never proud about stuff. He wasn’t looking for congratulations.”
In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Erving is survived by two sons, David Erving of San Diego and Richard Erving of Missoula, Mont., and seven grandchildren.
His funeral was Wednesday at Christ Church of Fox Chapel. The family suggests donating to Christ Church of Fox Chapel or Dorseyville Alliance Church.