Bill Maness

News Obituary Article

ALPHARETTA: Bill Maness, fitness ministry visionary

By KAY POWELL

Bill Maness' ministry encompassed body, mind and soul at the nation's largest Presbyterian Church.

"He was running exercise programs and ministries in Atlanta before people knew what jogging was," said Dr. Vic Pentz, pastor of the 12,000-member Peachtree Presbyterian Church where Mr. Maness was recreation director for 28 years.

The program has grown to 2,300 members who enjoy everything from traditional sports to dodge ball competitions and an award-winning after school program for Hispanic children in a multimillion-dollar complex built in 1999.

"The whole south end of the church was Bill's kingdom," said Dr. Pentz.

"What Bill did and why we loved him so much is that he took our highest aspirations as Christians to love our neighbor and to serve the poor and made it easy because he came up with creative ways for us to live the way Jesus told us to live," he said.

The memorial service for William D. Maness Jr., 65, who died of a heart attack Wednesday at his Alpharetta residence, is 11 a.m. today at Peachtree Presbyterian Church. The body was cremated. H.M. Patterson & Son, Arlington Chapel, is in charge of arrangements.

While studying to be a Baptist minister, Mr. Maness felt called by God to make fitness his ministry, said his wife, Jackie Maness. A Baptist church twice rejected him for its recreation director position, and Peachtree Presbyterian persisted in offering him a job, she said.

He ran the first Peachtree Road Race and was among the first to offer spinning classes and dodge ball leagues. Books he wrote covered topics as varied as fitness and how to pass the pilots exam. He had hosted an early-morning TV fitness program on WSB.

"He was very creative. He was constantly dreaming up new ideas. His radar was unbelievable," Dr. Pentz said. "He was remarkable. Every time you turned around, you would find a new dimension to Bill's life."

Of the church's gym, Mr. Maness said in a 2001 Atlanta Journal-Constitution article, "We hope that this is as much a house of the Lord as our sanctuary. This is a place where you can be refreshed and made whole."

Mr. Maness started an outreach program for children in Techwood Homes, public housing since torn down for the 1996 Olympics. The program paired mentors from the church with children from the housing project. Some went on to attend college as HOPE scholars or on scholarships Mr. Maness secured for them, said Gilda Morris of Atlanta, the church's fitness director.

With Techwood Homes gone, Mr. Maness looked for another way to serve, she said, and turned to the Spanish-speaking children who live near the church. The after-school La Amistad program has grown from two days a week of sports and tutoring by church members to a full program including preschool. It earned an "A Plus" award from Atlanta Public Schools.

"Billy was a visionary," his wife said. "He had visions of putting faith and body together to preach the world of God through fitness."

Survivors include a daughter, Julie Cross of Cumming; a son, Mark Maness of Alpharetta; and four grandchildren.

© 2004 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution