Nolan Rolf Younkman, 88, of Punta Gorda, Florida and formerly of Lafayette, Ohio,died Dec. 14, 2017, at Tidewell Hospice in Port Charlotte, Florida.
Nolan is survived by his wife of 67 years, Mary; his son, Dale; his daughter-in-law, Peggy; his granddaughter, Ashley and her husband, Matthew.
He was born on July 1, 1929, near Lafayette, Ohio, to Dale and Alma (Carey) Younkman. His sister, Roberta Jean, four years his elder, died on June 7, 2000. He was raised by his paternal grandparents, Francis Guy and Erdie May Younkman.
He graduated from Lafayette-Jackson High School, Anderson College and Oberlin School of Theology with a Bachelor of Divinity Degree. He did graduate work on the Old Testament toward a PhD at Western Reserve University while pastoring a Methodist Church at Jefferson, the county seat of Ashtabula County.
Nolan was recommended and approved to preach in 1957 by the Lima District Conference of the Methodist Church at the First United Methodist Church in Bluffton. Upon graduation from Oberlin School of Theology, he was ordained as an Elder in the Methodist church at the Ohio Methodist Annual Conference at Lakeside, Ohio.
Nolan served churches in Sycamore, Jefferson, and Dennison, Ohio. In 1966, he took a job as the YMCA Director in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and served until 1984.
He later served as pastor of the Van Wert Evangelical and Reformed (UCC) Church. Upon retiring in 1988, he moved to Summerville, South Carolina, where he was an associate pastor of the United Methodist Church.
He was an annuitant visitor to retired clergy for the UCC pension board in South Carolina including parts of Georgia and North Carolina. In 2004, he and his wife, Mary, moved to Punta Gorda, Florida.
Visitation will be held Friday, Dec. 22, from 10-11 a.m. at Chiles-Laman Funeral & Cremation Services, 239 S. Main Street, Bluffton.
A graveside service will follow at 11:30 a.m. at Bluelick Cemetery near Lima. Rev, Kyle Younkman is officiating. Memorial contributions may be made to the charity of the donor’s choice.
Condolences may be expressed to the family at www.chiles-lamanfh.com
