John Clemens Soltman

John Clemens Soltman

John Clemens Soltman died February 5, 2010, at age 90. John was born in Pontiac, Michigan, August 17, 1919, the second child of John Henry August Soltman and Ruby Salome (Clemens) Soltman. The family moved to Seattle, Washington, in 1935, and John graduated from Queen Anne High School in 1936 and from Seattle Pacific College in 1940. He graduated in 1943 with a Bachelor of Divinity degree, from Evangelical Theological Seminary, Naperville, Illinois. A month later, John began a student pastorate at The Evangelical Church of the Good Shepherd in Lakeview, West Hempstead, Long Island, New York, while attending Union Theological Seminary.
In 1944, he and Thelma Mae Glading were married, and a year later they moved to Seattle, where John was appointed pastor of Haller Lake Methodist Church. He was also pastor at First Methodist Church, Vancouver, Washington (1954-1961), and at Mason Methodist Church, Tacoma, Washington (1961-1969). In April 1969 John was hired as the first director of the Southwest Washington Alcoholism Recovery Foundation, an alcoholism treatment facility in Vancouver, Washington. He served in that position until his retirement in 1984.
John and Thelma divorced in early 1969, and John and Marlys Marguerite (Maxwell) Jobe were married in December 1969. John and Marlys traveled extensively during their retirement, and he also volunteered his help with fundraising efforts on behalf of the Fort Vancouver Seamen's Center, Healing the Children, and Sister Magdalen Kilbane's missionary efforts in Oaxaca, Mexico.
In 2004, John and Marlys moved Panorama in Lacey, Washington. John was a carpenter and woodworker. He was a reader with a preference for nonfiction, mostly in the fields of religion, politics and social issues. Written correspondence with family, friends, and acquaintances, a frequent activity, bore special importance to John, for its value of communication and as an art form.
John was preceded in death by his mother and father and his elder sister, Edith. He is survived by his wife, Marlys; his two sons, David Soltman (Judy Howard) and Mark Soltman (Mary Ringsrud) and Mark and Mary's three sons, Garth, Lucas, and Keith; and by his sister, Marion, and his brother, George.
Memorials may be made to UMCOR/United Methodist Committee on Relief, PO Box 9068, New York, NY 10087
(1-800-554-8583, http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/.
A memorial service will be held on April 24, 2010 at 1:00p.m. at the St. Andrews United Methodist Church, 540 School St, Lacey, WA, 98503.