Disciples Divinity House

Dorothy Coffman Messenger died on November 5 in Edmond, Oklahoma. She was 102. She was born March 4, 1915, in Dallas, Texas, to John Richard Coffman and Rhe Harper Coffman. She attended Texas Christian University, where she met G.L. “Andy” Messenger. They were married August 27, 1936, and both graduated from TCU in 1937. She earned the Bachelor of Science Degree in Business.

After college, they moved to Chicago, where G.L. entered the University of Chicago as a Disciples Divinity House Scholar. She was employed at the International Council of Religious Education, which later merged with the Federal Council of Churches to become the National Council of Churches. Her responsibilities included meeting arrangements for scholars working on the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. Their first full-time pastorate was at Canyon, Texas, where they began serving in the fall of 1939 and where their daughter, Myrna (Ranney), was born. There followed two more Texas pastorates, at Center and at Denton, and the birth of their two sons, MacDiarmid and Scribner. They served the Glen Oak Christian Church in Peoria, Illinois, and then in Oklahoma at First Christian in Stillwater, Disciples Christian Church in Bartlesville, and First Christian, Woodward. In Oklahoma, Dorothy was employed for 28 years in the field of accounting.

Dorothy Messenger was active in all phases of church life. She was moderator of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Oklahoma, 1982-84, president of the Oklahoma Christian Women's Fellowship, and an elder. She taught church school classes with all ages, led retreats and numerous workshops, and spoke in churches across Oklahoma. She volunteered in many interdenominational projects. She was beloved as a teacher, adviser, and mentor. She was predeceased by her husband, to whom she had been married for almost 67 years. In 2005, she created the G.L. “Andy” and Dorothy Coffman Messenger Fund at the Disciples Divinity House. She is survived by her daughter and two sons, and by numerous grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren. A memorial service was held November 16 at Southern Hills Christian Church in Edmond.