Gerald Albert McNEELY

1924 - 2017

McNEELY, Gerald Albert,

92, returned home to his Lord and Savior on March 12, 2017.

He was born December 14, 1924 in Louisville to the late Clifton Coleman and Estelle Lawrence McNeely. He was preceded in death by brother, William McNeely and sister, Dorothy Schmitt.

He served in the US Army (paratroops) in WWII and then attended US Naval Academy in Annapolis before being called to Christian ministry. He graduated from Georgetown College in Kentucky and later received his Master's degrees in Divinity, Theology and Religious Education and a Doctorate of Education degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. He served as pastor to three churches in Kentucky: Ewing Baptist Church, Mt. Zion Baptist Church (Dry Ridge), and First Baptist Church of Carlisle. He then served as a missionary to Spain with the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention for 33 years. In Spain he was professor, vice president and president of the Spanish Baptist Theological Seminary in Barcelona and later Madrid. He also founded the Alcobendas Baptist Church in Madrid. Upon retirement, Gerald worked with the Long Run Baptist Association in Louisville as Director of Mission Development. He was brilliant, funny, strong, courageous, and most of all devoted to June Hall McNeely, his wife and partner in ministry for almost 70 years. Since meeting in college they shared a life-long passion for missions education and ministries to women and children through Woman's Missionary Union and Sunday School programs. They have been active members of St. Matthews Baptist Church in Louisville. Gerald enjoyed playing piano and researching genealogy, and he played on a competitive tennis team even until last October.

He is survived by his wife June, daughters Linda Hoffman (Rusty) and Marsha Smith (David) and grandchildren Lisa Hoffman (Rob Shrader), Matthew Hoffman (Meg), Joel Smith (Joie) and Nathan Smith (Alicia), and nine great grandchildren Mariah, Caroline, Elijah, Lydia, Shane, James, Talia, Samuel and Jordan.

A celebration of life will be held at St. Matthews Baptist Church on Saturday, March 18 at 10 am. Visitation will be 5-7pm Friday March 17 at Ratterman Funeral Home 12900 Shelbyville Rd. East Louisville, KY 40243. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts can be made to the REIMAGINE campaign at St. Matthews Baptist Church or the WMU Heritage Fund (www.kywmu.org).