Rev. William H. Fudge

CHICAGO — The Rev. William H. Fudge, 88, of Chicago and formerly of the Wyoming Valley, died Thursday, Oct. 23, 2014, in Seasons Hospice, Weiss Memorial Hospital, Chicago, following an illness.

Pastor Fudge was born in Plains Township, a son of the late Charles and Lydia Heidel Fudge, and was a graduate of Plains Memorial High School, class of 1944.

He joined the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1945 and served as a corporal with the 3701st Army Air Force Base Unit and was discharged at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in 1946. He graduated from the Reformed Episcopal Seminary, Philadelphia, in 1952, and was ordained a minister of the Primitive Methodist Church the same year. He also attended the University of Pennsylvania, Wilkes College and the Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, Hamilton, Massachusetts.

He served First Primitive Methodist Church, West Conshohocken, First Primitive Methodist Church, Plymouth, and Lawrence Street Primitive Methodist Church, Lowell, Massachusetts. He served as executive director of the Primitive Methodist Conference of the USA, Wilkes-Barre, for 12 years, retiring in 1995.

Following his retirement, he served as interim pastor of the Wyoming Avenue Christian Church, Kingston, from 1996 until his final retirement. He had been a member of the Parsons Primitive Methodist Church, Wilkes-Barre.

Pastor Fudge was preceded in death by his wife, Thelma V. Fudge, who died in 2008; a sister, Doris Wheeler; and brother, Charles S. Fudge.

Surviving are children, Linda Parkyn and her husband, Dr. David Parkyn, Chicago, and Linda MacRae, Guatemala; grandchildren, Mrs. Betsy Cruikshank and her husband, Calder, Marblehead, Massachusetts, and Nathaniel Parkyn and his wife, Casey, Radnor; great-grandchildren, William David Cruikshank, Anna Calder Cruikshank and Catharine Rose Cruikshank, all of Marblehead, and Carter David Parkyn and Ella Marie Parkyn, Radnor.

Memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Wyoming Avenue Christian Church, 881 Wyoming Ave., Kingston, with the Rev. Reginald Thomas, who was mentored by Pastor Fudge for ministry, now a resident of South Carolina, as officiant Private interment will be in Oak Lawn Cemetery, Hanover Township, at the convenience of the family.

The family requests that flowers be omitted and that memorial contributions be made to The Rev. William H. and Mrs. Thelma V. Fudge Memorial Trust Fund, c/o The Primitive Methodist Investment Foundation, 324 Avenue C, Swoyersville, PA 18704.

Arrangements are by the H. Merritt Hughes Funeral Home, a Golden Rule Funeral Home, Wilkes-Barre.