Rev. John E. Medley Jr.

Rev. John Elmer Medley Jr., who lovingly ministered for more than five decades to Lutheran congregations from the Upper Midwest to the East Coast, died Sunday, Jan. 19, after collapsing at home in Lauderhill, Fla.

He was 84 and recovering from a series of medical challenges he had faced in recent years.

His daughter Laurie O’Neill, recalling that he had been a champion diver in his youth, said that he “dived into everything he encountered.” That included raising horses in South Dakota, where he served the Zion congregation in the early 1970s, to family nautical outings that he “captained” on sailboats and a motorboat when he served in Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia in later years, to playing many rounds of golf with his wife, Barbara (née Gordon), after his 1999 retirement.

Pastor Medley “never met anybody he wasn’t interested in,” said Barb Medley, and he loved church work as a way to support young people and those who were sick or in need of help. Long after retiring, he continued to officiate at weddings and baptisms, and to preach in place of absent ministers at congregations in South Florida.

Born in Baltimore, Md., to John Elmer Medley Sr. and Laura (Brandau), Pastor Medley was athletically gifted and pursued a role in professional sports through various jobs. He was a bat boy for the Baltimore Orioles, a water boy for the Baltimore Colts, and later played with the farm team of the St. Louis Browns. He played lacrosse and was on the dive team at Loyola University in Maryland, where he won the Mason Dixon diving championship.

While in college, his faith changed his direction and he transferred to Concordia Theological Seminary in Springfield, Ill., part of the conservative Missouri Synod, where he trained for a life of ministry. He and Barb married in 1959 and he graduated from Concordia in 1961, accepting a call to serve in the Virginia Beach area, where he established the Prince of Peace congregation.

During the next three decades, he would serve congregations, and he and Barb would raise their two daughters, in Mitchell, S.D., Charlottesville, Va., Baltimore, Md., Denver, N.C., and Norfolk, Va. The family traveled around other parts of the United States during Pastor Medley’s summer vacations, camping, boating, and instilling both girls with their father’s adventurous and grateful spirit.

Besides Barb, of Lauderhill, and his daughter Laurie O’Neill, of Durham, N.C., Pastor Medley leaves another daughter, Lisa Clark of Pompano Beach, Fla.; and four grandchildren, Jonathan Farb and Michael Farb, both of Charlotte, N.C., Rebecca Clark of Clayton, N.C., and Holly Clark of Pompano Beach. He also leaves his sons-in-law, James O’Neill of Durham and David Clark of Pompano Beach, a niece, Carrie Thayer of Portola Valley, Calif., and several cousins.

A memorial service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 8, at Our Savior Lutheran Church, 8001 NW 5th St., Plantation, Fla., 33324.

In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Pastor Medley may be made to the Roof Fund at Our Savior Lutheran Church.

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