The Ohio Independent Baptist, January 1973

'('Paid The Price' ' J,1 c>11r Nc>ve111ber iss,,e , u 1 e l1atl a /Jrie/ H'<>r<I cor1cern– i,1u tl1e clec11/1 c>/ R ev. Verne Dunl1c1111. 1'/1is 111ore <letciiletl rep<>rr <1ppe<1recl fir r i,1 rl1e Dc,ver , Delc1lvc1re nelvspaper- 1~ A 1 · £ N /: W . 1 t H ' a., H • r i r I en h ·" c > 11 e , > / r I I e i r .\ t ll fl u·riters - M<1r.\' Blt1gg. DOVER - "Are you ready to pay 1e price our new church n1ight co t ~?" a ked Pa tor Verne L. Dunhan1. Then Pastor Dunham hin1 elf paid 1e ultimate price for the new build– g bei ng constructed by member of I Bible Bapti t Church. On the morning of Saturday, Oct. l, while working on the new church, •unham feJI through the unfini shed 1pti try and died everal hour later . Dunham, 63, came to Dover in De– ·mber of 197 1 to help the Bible 'lptist Church construct a building their own. They had previou ly ·en renting a church in Dover for orshi p services. His sudden death has left its mark 1 the 20 or so members of the 1u_rch but, it seems to have drawn em closer together as they strive to 1mplete the job Dunham started . "It was an awful shock at first,,. ys Mrs. Warren Allison of near 1sing Sun, "but we know it wa e Lord's will." .. Pastor Dunhan1 was ready .H Dunham, retired from 27 years of full-time mini stry , was a Hmissionary pa tor" who would come to an area to plan a building program, get it 5tarted, and help the new church be– con1e eJf-supporting. He expecteu to leave when the job was done . Robert John of Dover, a deacon of the church, wa there when the accident occurred . "We were doing the rafters and he wa standing on the auditorium • floor , handing a pacer to his son-in- Jaw, Frank Estep. HPa tor Dunham fell through the four-by-eight hole for the baptistry and landed about nine feet below, hitting his head.,. An ambulance appeared in about six minutes, according to John, and bore the semi-conscious pastor to Kent General Hospi tal. He was bleed– ing profusely. The pastor's wife, Viola , was called and hovered around the hospital , The Bible Baptist Church of Dover fE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIST Pastor and Mrs. Dunham moving to Wilmington when her hus– band was transferred there in the atternoon. Despite efforts to save him, Dun– han1 died before nightfall. The next day, Sunday, past Bible Baptist hurch pa tor, Levi Goehring, preached and a memorial service was held for Pastor Dunham. "Mrs. Dunham was there Sunday n1orning to comfort us,'' Mrs. AJJison says. "They just celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary this summer . Verne Dunham was buried in Olean, N. Y. He is described with warmth by the Delawareans who knew him for Jess than a year. "When you met him, right away he was a ' brother'," John quotes from Dunham's eulogy. "He was almost like a fat her to me," Joho says. uy ou couldn't help but like him." Another deacon of the church, David Chandler of Dover, adds, "He was a likable gentleman . . . forth– right and honest. You always knew where you stood with him. " Chandler, chairman of the building program, says philosophically, Hlt was in the Lord's plan for something to happen, but we didn 't expect this." "He was a good teacher who could get you to study the Word, " Mr . Alli– son says. "He made people want to study." Since his death, the construction efforts on the church have been attacked with r e n e w e d energy. Friends of the Dunhan1 family have traveled from New York to Dover to toil side-by-side \\'ith the Bible Baptist men. (Continued on page 15) JANUARY, 1973 5