Ralph A. Lawrence

Ralph was born April 18, 1931, in Wendell, Idaho; lived for five years in Jerome, Idaho, and grew up in Caldwell, Idaho, graduating from Caldwell High School in 1949 and from the College of Idaho in 1953 with a B.A. degree in Economics/Business Administration. He was a member of the College Choir, Deputation Teams, Christian Association (YMCA), Intercollegiate Debate, Senate, and Pi Kappa Delta forensic honorary. The College in 1986 awarded him the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree. He attended Boston University School of Theology, earning a Master of Divinity degree in 1956. Additionally, he took Clinical Pastoral Education studies at Massachusetts General Hospital, was a member of the Boston University Seminary Singers, and had many years of continuing education through numerous seminars and at the Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, CA., and Garrett Theological Seminary, Evanston, IL. He was Director of Youth Ministries at Christ Church (Congregational-Methodist) in Kennebunk, Maine; and conducted youth missions to the Boston inner city and to the United Nations in New York City. Following graduation from Boston University, he was ordained Elder in the Methodist Church, Idaho Conference, and was appointed to his first church assignment at Shoshone-Richfield, Idaho. Following that, he was appointed to Idaho Falls, Idaho, to form a new church serving a growing population related to the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (nuclear energy research). He served 41 years as a member of the Oregon-Idaho Conference of the United Methodist Church, with pastoral appointments at Shoshone-Richfield, Idaho; Idaho Falls, Idaho; Nyssa, Oregon; Portland, Oregon; Payette, Idaho; and Meridian, Idaho. For six years, he was the District Superintendent of the Eastern District, Boise, Idaho.

He was married in 1957 to Beverley Jean Miller of Twin Falls, Idaho, mother of his three children. Beverley is the sister of Rev. Dr. Ross James Miller, ST, class of 1959. They were divorced in 1974. In 1975 he married Audrey Shelden of Ontario, Oregon, including Audrey’s five children as his own for a total of eight. Ralph and Audrey were active in ministry together and shared pastoral care with the parishioners of their churches and communities. Through their organization, Classic International Journeys, they organized extensive travel worldwide for 35 years, focusing on the mission of the Church, notably to Israel/Holy Land, China, and other parts of the Orient, Europe, Africa, North and South America.

After his retirement, Ralph was Assistant Pastor for 17 years at First United Methodist Church, Cathedral of the Rockies, Boise. He also served a number of interim appointments in Oregon and Idaho, bringing his total years of pastoral service to 69 (2 years as a youth minister, 41 active appointments, 26 in retired service). For the final five years of his ministry, he was the pastor of the Caldwell UMC, the church from which he’d entered the ministry as a candidate some 65 years earlier.