Arthur West, pioneer church communicator, dead at 95
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The Rev. Arthur West |
April 11, 2005By United Methodist News Service The Rev. J. Arthur West, a pioneer communicator in the United Methodist Church, died April 8 in Lebanon, Ohio. He was 95. West
retired in 1975 from United Methodist Communications, where he worked
for 27 years as a staff member and director of the denomination’s news
agency. For 20 years prior, he was pastor of churches in Missouri and
New England. He
was among the first nine inductees in the United Methodist Association
of Communicators Hall of Fame when it was created in 1983. "Arthur
West always advocated for openness and honesty in communication," said
the Rev. Larry Hollon, top staff executive of United Methodist
Communications. "He held the church to these values and made
communications in the church better as a result. … We continue to
benefit from the way he conducted himself as a journalist and a person
of integrity." West’s experience in journalism began as a reporter during his school years but included work also as religion editor at the Providence (R.I.) Journal-Bulletin and the Bangor (Maine) Daily News. Born
in Grant City, Mo., he received his undergraduate degree and an
honorary doctor of divinity degree from Baker University in Baldwin
City, Kan., and his master of arts and bachelor of sacred theology
degrees from Boston University. He did graduate study in journalism and
public relations at Northwestern University and the University of
Chicago. A
clergy member of the Missouri East Annual Conference, West joined the
staff of the Commission on Public Relations and Methodist Information in
1948, becoming its director in 1964 following the retirement of
founding director, the Rev. Ralph Stoody. Methodist
Information, as the news agency was known in the former Methodist
Church, was created in 1940 by the denomination’s General Conference "to
gather news of public interest concerning Methodist activities and
opinion and disseminate it through the secular press, radio and other
legitimate media of public information." After
union of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical Brethren Church in
1968, the news agency became part of the newly created United Methodist
Communications. UMCom annually gives a graduate study fellowship in
communications named in honor of Stoody and West At
West’s retirement, Bishop Eugene Frank said both Stoody and West
believed the integrity of good journalism and honest reporting would, in
the end, be the best public relations for the church. "Arthur
maintained that a great denomination needed a news agency that would be
trusted and honored by the secular press and not be seen as a
self-serving public relations tool," said Frank, who chaired the
commission that guided Methodist Information’s work when West was hired. Following
his retirement, West served on the ministerial staffs of several
churches in the Dayton, Ohio, area. He and his wife, Vera, moved to the
Otterbein Home retirement community in Lebanon, where he edited
Otterbein’s monthly newspaper and for five years wrote a column about
Otterbein residents for Lebanon’s weekly newspaper, the Western Star. West
is survived by two sons, Paul, of Belmont, Mass., and David, of Dayton,
Ohio, three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Vera West,
whom he married in 1931, died in June 2004. A
memorial service is planned for May 22 at Otterbein-Lebanon United
Methodist Church. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions
be made to Otterbein Home Benevolent Care Fund. "The
church has lost one of its most faithful disciples," said Tom McAnally,
former director of United Methodist News Service. West set high
standards of professionalism, objectivity and fairness, he said. West’s
vision of his own ministry was captured early in an essay he wrote as a
college student at Boston University. The essay won first place in a
national contest sponsored in 1933 by the Board of Education of the
former Methodist Episcopal Church. Students were asked to submit entries
on the topic, "Why I Am Entering the Ministry." "I
know of no holier privilege than living humbly in the spirit of the
Christ, preaching His gospel with power, teaching it with sincerity and
sharing it freely with all people in all its implications," he wrote. News media contact: Tim Tanton, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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