Jerome Frank Del Pino

Del Pino, Jerome Frank of Saint Paul was born in Tampa, Florida, March 28, 1913, to Jerome and Mercedes Castillo Del Pino. He was the 13th child of fourteen children and grew up in the area called Ybor City. During his years of schooling, he attended Paine College and Alabama State College. Later, he continued his studies at Garrett Biblical Institute (Evanston, Illinois) American (Washington, DC) and Yale (New Haven, Connecticut) Universities. In order to meet financial needs, he began to master the sport of boxing as a light-weight boxer, winning most of his matches known as "the Tampa Flash". Jerome boxed until 1932, and then assumed other jobs working with social services until he received his call to the ordained ministry. He met and married Flossie Mae Childs Del Pino in 1932. The couple was married for 53 years until Flossie's death in 1985. In 1989, Reverend Del Pino was married to Margurite Brown Askew of Wheaton, Illinois. Marguerite died in 1998. Reverend Del Pino began his pastoral ministry in Clearwater, Florida where he pastored until 1936. He then moved to Daytona Beach, Florida where, at Bethune-Cookman College, he served as the director of religious education and as minister to Dr. Mary McCloud Bethune, the founder and first president of the College. In 1941, he was moved to Savannah, Georgia where he was appointed pastor of Palen Methodist Church. In Savannah the first three of six children (Jerome King) were born (including the first set of twins—Judy Mercedes and Julius Ernest). In 1947, Jerome and Flossie were moved to Lexington, Kentucky where he pastored Asbury Methodist Church, and where a second set of twins (Juanita Flossie and Jessica Claire) was born in 1952. In 1952, Bishop Matthew W. Clair, Jr. of the Central Jurisdiction moved Jerome and Flossie to Saint Paul, Minnesota to pastor Camphor Memorial Methodist Church, where one more child, Jacob Frank was born in 1956. Reverend Del Pino pastored Camphor for fourteen years. In 1966 he was transferred from the Minnesota Annual Conference to the Southern California-Arizona Annual Conference where he was appointed by Bishop Gerald Kennedy as pastor of Lincoln Memorial Methodist Church in Pasadena, California. In 1969, Reverend Del Pino was moved to Calvary Methodist Church in Los Angeles, California; and in 1972, he was transferred to the Holston Annual Conference (East Tennessee) by Bishop L. Scott Allen, where he pastored Bethel Methodist Church and Boyd Chapel in Morristown and Johnson City, Tennessee, and Wiley United Methodist Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He retired in 1978 after serving 46 years in the itinerant ministry. After retirement, Flossie and Jerome relocated to Saint Paul where he assumed duties as a chaplain at Regions Hospital (Ramsey Medical Center). Also, Jerome became a Charge Conference member (as clergy) at Central Park United Methodist Church where he and Flossie (a lay member) shared rich friendships with the members of this downtown congregation. In every itinerant assignment, Reverend Del Pino worked to better the lives of people in their communities by chairing and working on committees for racial justice and equality, such as the CRISP Committee in Saint Paul (a committee established to investigate desegregation of schools in Saint Paul), Black Methodists for Church Renewal, Inc. (of which he was a founding member), Ministerial Alliances and other boards and commissions. In the early 1970s, Reverend Del Pino traveled to South America (Peru, Columbia, and Guatemala) as ambassador for the United Methodist Church in the field of missions. Later, he traveled to Korea, China, and Japan. During his lifetime, he composed numerous religious songs, poems and authored a book entitled The Call to Preach (Paragon Press). He loved to travel, compose music, sing, write poetry, read, play the piano and spend time with his family. Reverend Del Pino is preceded in death by all of his brothers and sisters and his beloved wife, Flossie, and is survived by six children, fifteen grandchildren, and nine great- grandchildren. Children are Jerome King (Joyce) of Nashville, TN; Judy Mercedes (Melvin Henderson) of Burnsville, MN; Julius Ernest (Laurie) of West Bloomfield, Michigan; Juanita Del Pino of Chattanooga, TN; Jessica Claire Del Pino of Los Angeles; and Jacob Frank (Pamela) of Rosemount, MN. Grandchildren are Jerome Curtis (Tessa) of Nashville, TN; Emily Kathleen Del Pino Wingo (Bernard) of Brooklyn, NY; Kristina Del Pino (Chicago, Illinois); Tera Spears (Hampton) of Des Moines, Iowa; Joshua Del Pino of Chicago, Illinois; Terrence S. Crouch (Lhyne) of Salinas, California; Donna Mae Crouch of Charlotte, NC; Joel Crouch of Los Angeles, California; Tiffany Swoffard of Fort Smith, Arkansas; Rakel Swoffard-Robinson of Denver, CO; Derek Del Pino (Aimee) of St. Paul, MN; Jacob Del Pino, II of Minneapolis, MN; Melanie Henderson (Upper Marlboro, MD); Natalie Stute (Will) of Woodbury, MN; Karie Henderson of Lyndhurst, New Jersey. Great- grandchildren are Natalia Kathleen and Jerome R. Carlos Del Pino, Kai, Myles, Malik, and Malcolm Stute, Sidney Spears, Caleb Swoffard, Ashley Nicole Del Pino; nieces Angelina Smith (Robert) of Tampa, FL and Adelle Samuel of Rome, GA; and a host of great nieces and nephews and many friends from around the country and on several continents who celebrate his life and work as a servant of the servants of God. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be sent to the Rev. Jerome Frank Del Pino Memorial Scholarship Fund and checks be made payable to Camphor Memorial United Methodist Church, 585 Fuller Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55103. Visitations for Rev. Jerome Del Pino will be held Tuesday, April 1, 2008, 4-6 PM at Estes Funeral Chapel, 2210 Plymouth Ave. N., Minneapolis, MN 55411 and Wednesday, April 2, 2008, Noon – 1:45 PM at Camphor Memorial UMC, 585 Fuller Ave., Saint Paul, MN, 55103 preceding the services to start at 2:00 pm. Arrangements – Estes Funeral Chapel, Inc. – (612) 521-6744.
This obituary was originally published in the Star Tribune.