Rev. W. Terry Schoener, Class of 1960
Rev. Dr. W. Terry Schoener, 85, passed away peacefully at home on Monday October 9, 2023 after an extended illness. Terry was born in Pittsburgh, PA on December 11, 1937 to Charles and Martha Toerge Schoener. He graduated from Muskingum College in New Concord, OH in 1960, before enrolling in Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, where he earned his Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry Degrees. Terry was ordained as a Presbyterian Church USA pastor in 1963 when voting rights and civil rights were a centerpiece of our national conversation. His early ministry to congregations in Seville, Cleveland (Glenville) and Warren, OH included active participation in voter registration, civil rights, desegregation and economic justice efforts. He was proud to have worked with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who used his Glenville Presbyterian Church as a base of operations while working on economic empowerment initiatives in the Cleveland area. Terry was called to serve as the pastor of Wood Memorial Presbyterian Church in Severna Park, MD in 1979. It would prove to be a long and impactful calling where his leadership and vision, fueled by Christian confidence in the Word and an innate ability to have fun, grew membership, programs, ministries and disciples. Throughout his career, to and through his retirement in 2006, he was supported and sustained by his wife, Brenda Chapman Hall Schoener, who passed in 2015. Terry is survived by his wife, Sally A. Schofield; his children, Halle Schoener Randles (Steve), Matthew Hall Schoener (Lisa), and Bradley Charles Hall Schoener (Leslie); grandchildren, Clare Randles Moore (Brent), Tyler Thompson Schoener Randles (Carl), Yana Schoener, Lauren Schoener (Anthony), Hannah Schoener and Fionna Schoener Packer (Jay); and great grandchildren, Jackson Steven Schoener Moore and Cohen Forest Brendan Moore.