Pastor Sam Merle Allison

Just after noon on Thursday, October 7, 2021, the Lord took Sam Merle Allison at the age of 84 from this life to communion in glory with Christ in the highest heavens, where his soul has been made perfect in holiness and he beholds the face of God in light and glory waiting for the full redemption of his body, which continues united to Christ while his body will be put in the grave as in his bed until at the last day it is again united to his soul.

He was the sixth of thirteen children born to Wesley Leroy and Elizabeth Martha Allison, née Hazlett, in Tarentum, Pennsylvania. He grew up on the family farm and under the ministry of Pastor Walter Kenyon at Deer Creek United Presbyterian Church, where he professed his faith in Christ. He graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1959 with a Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture. While at Penn State he was drawn to the reformed faith through a box of books printed by the Rev. Lewis J. Grotenhuis and donated to the Penn State Intervarsity Christian Fellowship library. He graduated from Westminster Theological Seminary in 1963 with a Bachelor of Divinity.

He married Sonja (Huttel) Allison on September 10, 1960, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They were blessed with six children, thirty-six grandchildren, and sixteen great-grandchildren:

Peter (Alice) Allison

Benjamin (Kimberly) Allison, Clark, Sebastian, Sonja;

Samuel (Leah) Allison, Samuel, David, Jonathan;

Robert (Rachel) Allison;

Abigail (Caleb) Duff, Chloe, Victoria;

Sarah Allison;

Lewis (Alexys) Allison, Oliver;

Peter Allison;

Archibald (Kristi) Allison

Rachel, Elizabeth, Anna, Lydia, Gloria, Sophia;

Martha (Henry) Kenyon

Joanna Kenyon (Fabio Menchetti);

Eleazar (Sarah) Kenyon, Grace, Susanna, Cara;

Caleb (Caitlin) Kenyon, Ezra, Mercy;

Joy Kenyon;

James (Laina) Kenyon;

Joseph (Samantha) Kenyon;

Gary (Edith) Allison

Taralah (Cameron) Adams;

Brendan Allison;

Shayna (Jonathon) D’Amato;

Kaelyn Allison

Charlotte, Kathryn, Stephen;

Benjamin (Newlyn) Allison

Medora (John) Ahern, Ransom;

Camilla Allison, Leo;

Christian Allison

Rue, Judith;

Ruth (Jeremy) Cox

Anjuli, Keona, Callen, Lyanna, Duncan.

After serving as summer supply in Houlton, Maine, in 1963, he was ordained as a minister of the gospel in the Reformed Church in the United States (RCUS) in 1964 and served congregations in the RCUS and The Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Ashley, Venturia, Minot, and Carson, North Dakota, Hosmer, South Dakota, and Evansville, Indiana. He also taught at the Christian high school in Prinsburg, Minnesota, and San Jose, California, and directed the training of pastors in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

He was always reading, studying, and learning about everything and reviewed and collected books on many subjects. He loved his family and taught them and many others to love and serve the Lord. He enjoyed growing and preserving food, family mealtimes, talking to people about God and his world, reading the Bible, praying, singing God’s praise, and beautiful music and art. He lost much of his ability to speak and walk in his last years, but his smile and joy remained. Though he came from a long line of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, he was like a brand plucked from the fire by God’s electing love and sovereign grace when many departed from the faith.

He was preceded in death by his parents, sister Elizabeth Ann Stanley, niece Karen Stanley, sister-in-law Rhoda Allison, sister-in-law Virginia Allison, brother William and sister-in-law Ann Evelyn Allison, sister-in-law Evelyn Allison, nephew Daren Gilmore, brother David Allison, brother-in-law G. Robert Bowers, brother-in-law Stanley Weissmann, granddaughter Sophia Allison, and great-granddaughters Chloe and Victoria Duff.

Graveside visitation Saturday from noon till 1pm. Committal Service immediately follows. Fairmont Cemetery: Located at the corner of Keffer Road and Route 711 South. (7 miles south of Ligonier)

https://maps.app.goo.gl/wiLPmZtZmbNnPszx7

The funeral service is scheduled for Saturday, October 16, 2021, at 2:30 p.m. at Pioneer Presbyterian Church, 240 West Main Street, Ligonier, Pennsylvania.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be given to the Grace OPC–Japan Mission and sent to Emmaus OPC, 3808 Ziegler Road, Fort Collins, Colorado 80525.

McCabe Funeral Home, 144 East Main Street, Ligonier was in charge of arrangements. Online condolences may be made to www.mccabefuneralhomespa.com.