The Rev. Gehl Devore, pastor to suburban families for decades, dies at 102
The Rev. Gehl Devore, a longtime suburban pastor who was known to wear his faith on his sleeve and look for ways to uplift people, has died. He was 102.
Devore led the First United Methodist Church of Waukegan for 17 years before retiring in 1980. He went on to serve another 20 years as chaplain of the Waukegan City Council, opening every meeting with a prayer. He died Feb. 5.
"He ministered well into his mid-90s," said his son, Bill, of Wadsworth. "He and my mom would visit hospitals, nursing homes and shut-ins, and just spend time with people.
"He lived a life of commitment and service," his son said, "and a love for his church, his family and his Lord."
His wife, Doris, who at 98 survives him, played a key role in his ministry.
Before the couple met, Devore worked eight years as a Linotype operator. But it wasn't long after meeting Doris, and her father, the Rev. Fred Mery, pastor of First Methodist Church in downstate Altamont, that Devore discovered a calling.
"He was a mentor and encouraged my father's ministry," Bill Devore said of Mery, his grandfather.
At the age of 23, Devore enrolled at McKendree College in nearby Lebanon before studying at Garrett Theological Seminary in Evanston.
While in the seminary, he was appointed to pastor his first church in West suburban Westmont, where he served from 1944 to 1956, before moving to Rockford, where he served as senior pastor of Grace Methodist Church from 1956 to 1961.
Devore's last post before Waukegan was in Barrington, serving the Barrington Methodist Church congregation from 1961 to 1963.
However, it was in Waukegan where Devore made a lasting impact, accompanying families during the highs - and lows - of their lives. Church leaders say that during his years there, Devore performed 665 baptisms, 951 marriages and a similar number of funerals.
"My father loved being around people, but it was sharing his faith that drove him," Bill Devore said. "He just had this strong and abiding faith."
Even in his final years, spent at Rolling Hills Place and Rolling Hills Manor in Zion, Devore was known as the "minister on wheels."
Besides his son, Devore is survived by his wife of 78 years, Doris, as well as his daughter, Jan of Decatur, and two grandchildren, Christopher Devore of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and Angela Devore of Gurnee.
Services will take place at First United Methodist Church in Waukegan, where the chancel in the sanctuary was dedicated in his and Doris' honor.
Visitation will take place from 5 to 8 p.m. on Sunday, and again at 10 a.m. Monday before an 11 a.m. funeral service, at the church, 128 N. Martin Luther King Drive in Waukegan.