June 24, 2003
by John Filiatreau

LOUISVILLE - The Rev. John I. Rhea, one of the hardest-working full-time employees on or off the payroll, returned to the Presbyterian Center Monday to be showered with love and praise by more than 100 colleagues who have been buoyed for a decade by his extraordinary joie de vivre.

Rhea, 92, who has been battling pancreatic cancer for six months, was confined to a wheelchair and tethered to a tank of oxygen, but he was nattily jacket-and-tied, as always, and glowing with the infectious smile he brought to work every day.

When he was wheeled into the atrium, he was greeted with warm, sustained applause.

Rhea is a trim package of contradictions: an old man who helps his colleagues stay young, a nonagenarian brimming with energy, a retiree who dutifully reports for work every day, always on time, an old-timer always willing to try something new.

He has worked without pay for 10 years in the Office of Older Adult Ministries, part of the Congregational Ministries Division (CMD).

In fact, he kept working long after he fell ill, right through a debilitating course of chemotherapy, up until the day about two weeks ago when he collapsed and had to be hospitalized.

("I hate to call in sick," he said from his hospital bed. "I've never done that in my life.") Monday, as legions of his co-workers filed past, shaking his hand, saying thanks, wishing him well, Rhea said softly, over and over, with characteristic graciousness, "It has been such a privilege to work with all of you."

The Rev. Donald Campbell, the CMD director, hailed Rhea for "faithful, tireless and exemplary service" to the Presbyterian Church (USA), "a record we defy anyone to match."

The Rev. S. Miriam Dunson, CMD's associate for older adult ministries, told Rhea that, while it has often been said that "we were 'joined at the hip,' the truth is that I have walked in your shadow."

Dunson recalled that she was "a very young 59 years old" when she met Rhea, a member of the search committee that hired her.

The Rev. Carl E. Horton, coordinator for church leader support in CMD, told Rhea that he "modeled retirement vitality and practiced what you preached," and "challenged your more complacent contemporaries in retirement" to do the same.

"It was your vision," Horton said, "that gave shape to a new ministry ... that urges the church to not forget its retired sisters and brothers."

Rhea is the founder of the Association of Retired Ministers, Spouses and Survivors (ARMSS), an organization several speakers called "his baby."

The group recently concluded its seventh national convention in Louisville. Rhea wasn't well enough to attend, but members of his family, including his wife, Rosetta, were guests at a banquet in his honor.

The Rev. John Payne, of the Office of Mission Funding and Development, said, "I have known people who were 25 years old who were old people - and I have known people in their 90s who were young at heart, willing to try new things, try once again." He said Rhea was one of those elderly young, and praised him for his "wonderful attitude, and that joy of life."

The Rev. Vernon Broyles, associate director for social justice in the National Ministries Division, thanked Rhea for "your gracious friendship ... and your determined, persistent faithfulness to Jesus, the Lord of the church."

The Rev. Gary Torrens, coordinator for middle governing bodies in the Office of the General Assembly, credited Rhea with having shown PC(USA) congregations "how to conduct older adult ministries," thereby presenting "a gift to the whole church."

The Rev. Richard McClain, Rhea's pastor at Harvey Browne Presbyterian Church in Louisville, described him as "a person with more energy than I was born with" and said he "is always in worship, dedicated to the work of Jesus Christ." He noted that Rhea and his wife recently celebrated their 67th wedding anniversary.

Bok-Soon Slayton, an administrative assistant in the Office of Church Leader Support, said: "Every morning at 9 o'clock, John says, 'I am here!' He comes to work every day, he always smiles. ... I think of his honesty, integrity, he is so faithful to his work and to his friends."

John Detterick, executive director of the General Assembly Council, told Rhea, "The church is a better church ... because of what you have done," and said that all the love earlier speakers had expressed for Rhea is merely "a reflection of your love for them."

"When I grow up," he added, "I want to be just like you."

When it was Rhea's turn to speak, he said: "I just want to thank you all so very, very much. It's been a real joy to work with you over these 10 years."

Campbell concluded with a prayer of thanks to God "for John, who continually shares his gifts of faith and hope, his enthusiasm, eagerness, zeal and commitment ... (and) his wisdom deepened by his experience ... for the affirmation of the life and work of retired ministers ... for all your goodness to us as we have been touched by the ministry of our friend, John."

Rhea graduated from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary (LPTS) in 1938 and soon accepted a call from First Presbyterian Church in Boone, NC, where he earned $700 a year. He resigned in 1942 to become a U.S. Army chaplain.

He was the founder and for 10 years the director of Senior Citizens East, a service organization for older adults in Louisville. He later founded Senior Citizens' Enterprises, a group that works to enable frail elderly people to stay in their own homes. WLKY-TV's Spirit of Louisville Foundation honored him for his long service to older people in Louisville with its prestigious Bell Award.

For several years Rhea was director of men's ministry for the Board of Christian Education of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS), the former "southern church."

He demonstrated his resilience when he had hip-replacement surgery in November 1999, then had his other hip replaced less than two months later. His goal was to be able to walk unaided to the podium on Feb. 3, 2000, to receive a Life Achievement Award from LPTS. Somehow, to the amazement of his doctors, he did.

Rhea's first assignment from the Office of Older Adult Ministries was to carry out a General Assembly mandate to establish an association for retired ministers, which ultimately became ARMSS. The Assembly provided no budget for the purpose, but Rhea organized the group and sponsored its first convention, in 1997.

Rhea is a specialist in conducting needs assessments for congregations trying to meet the needs of their older members. He created an assessment program that is detailed in Older Adult Ministry: A Guide for the Session and Congregation. He also wrote a book, Adult Children Caring for Their Parents: A Training Design, that has been used widely in the PC(USA). Both books are available through the Presbyterian Distribution Service.

Besides working full-time at the center, Rhea always put in a large garden and shared the produce with his friends and neighbors, and routinely took care of the lawns and homes of a handful of elderly people unable to do it themselves.

"At the Presbyterian Center, John has been treated as the full-time staff associate that he is," Dunson said. "The only difference between his status and that of other staff associates is that he has been a full-time volunteer. He always took his turn at any of the duties other staff were expected to carry out. And the only cost to CMD has been his parking fee."

Dunson added: "He has never been known to say a negative word about anyone."

Rhea helped create a Permanent Fund through the Presbyterian Foundation that will support older-adult ministries well into the future, making personal contributions that Dunson terms "considerable" and coordinating a team of funds-development volunteers that raised more than $2 million.

Among those on hand for Monday's cake-and-ice cream event were Rhea's wife, Rosetta; their daughter, Judie Wiley, of Pennsylvania; and their granddaughter, Valerie Gallo, of Louisville.

Presbyterian News Service