Our beloved district president, Timothy Yeadon, was called home to his eternal rest last Sunday afternoon. His obituary and details regarding the funeral service are as follows:
“….Jesus, knowing that His hour had come that He should depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” John 13:1
Rev. Dr. Timothy Yeadon was born June 27, 1959 in Glen Cove, NY to Margaret and Ray Yeadon. His childhood years were spent in East Northport, Long Island, NY. Tim had many fond memories of Mill Neck Manor Lutheran School for the Deaf where many family members and friends worked, including his aunt Eunice Weidner. Tim worked on the grounds crew there in the summers during his teenage years.
Tim attended Cornell University in Ithaca, NY majoring in Classics and History, and graduated magna cum laude in 1981. During the college years he met Ruth Schumacher through Campus Crusade for Christ, a Christian fellowship group, and the two became engaged. They married in 1982.
After college Tim moved to St. Louis, MO to attend Concordia Seminary, studying to become a minister in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. During this time Tim and Ruth’s first son was born, Jonathan, in 1983. They moved for one seminary year of vicarage (student internship) to Castle Rock, CO. In 1985, following the final year of seminary in St. Louis, Tim received a call to be the pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Hartford, CT. fulfilling his lifelong dream to go to New England, where his maternal grandparents had lived. Daniel, Tim and Ruth’s second son, was born in August of 1985.
During the next 28 years, as the church and his family grew, Tim greatly enjoyed ministering to the people of St. Paul’s and the community. In his free time he enjoyed hiking, biking, canoeing, snowboarding, golf, painting, and woodworking. He taught himself to play the guitar and had a beautiful baritone singing voice. He was an avid reader and doer of word puzzles, especially crosswords. He especially loved coaching youth sports, soccer and baseball in New Hartford leagues. He was a supervising pastor to 15 vicars (student interns) and took 3 groups of parishioners to Kenya, Africa, on Mission trips. Tim was the third king in Winsted’s Boar’s Head Festival every year it was held.
In 2012 Tim was elected district president of the New England District (bishop). During the next 9 years he traveled extensively throughout New England and also to Liberia, and Germany in 2017, taking a group of Lutherans to visit historical sites of significance to the Reformation. He was also on the board of Mill Neck Manor Lutheran School for the Deaf. He was always happy to return to his home in Barkhamsted, working in his basement woodshop in his spare time. During these years he earned a doctor of ministry degree from Concordia Seminary which was awarded in the spring of 2021.
Tim was known for his encouragement, humor, and beautiful smile. He could make you laugh and then cry in the same sermon. He will be dearly missed but remembered by many.
Tim is survived by his wife of 39 years, Ruth, his son Jonathan ( Jennifer Schork), and grandson River, his son Daniel ( Jen Gunther Yeadon), grandsons Erich and Luke, his sister Cathy, sister-in-law Laura (Ernesto), and father-in-law Gary Schumacher, aunts, uncles, and many cousins.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Hartford or Mill Neck Manor Lutheran School for the Deaf.
Calling hours will be Friday, Jan. 28th at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Hartford, from 1-4 pm and 5-8 pm. The funeral will take place at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Bristol, CT on January 29th at 11 am. 30th at 3:30 pm.
“Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.” Rev. 2:10