Dr. J. D. Abbott, 1922 – 2010 
Dr. J. D. Abbott, General Superintendent Emeritus of The Wesleyan Church, died Saturday, March 6, 2010, in Elkhart, Indiana, at the age of 87. Dr. Abbott was elected to the Board of General Superintendents at the 1968 merging conference of The Wesleyan Church, having previously served as General Superintendent of the precedent Pilgrim Holiness Church. Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m., Wednesday, at the Miller-Stewart Funeral Home, 1003 S. Main St., Middlebury, Indiana. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m., Thursday, at the Middlebury Church of the Brethren. Services will be conducted by Pastor Dan Petry, with Dr. Aron Willis, superintendent of the Indiana North District of The Wesleyan Church, giving the homily. Burial will be in Grace Lawn Cemetery, Middlebury, Indiana.
He was born Sept. 29, 1922, in Wyoming, Del., to John Wesley and Mary (Boggs) Abbott. On July 11, 1943, in Dover, Del., he married Gladys Kirkendall. She survives along with two sons, John D. Jr. (LeAnn) Abbott of Indianapolis and Kenneth W. (JoAnn) Abbott of Bristol; eight grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
Converted and sanctified in early childhood, Dr. Abbott became a member of the Pilgrim Holiness Church and graduated from the former Eastern Pilgrim College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Ordained by the Pittsburgh District Conference in 1944, he was a Wesleyan minister for over 50 years, pastoring churches in Chestertown, Maryland; Richeyville-Bentleyville, Pennsylvania; Warren, Pennsylvania; and Cambridge, Maryland.
As a leader in the Pittsburgh district he served as youth and Sunday school secretary, and was district secretary from 1945-1949. In 1953, he was elected district superintendent of the former Eastern district, and served for seven years.
Elected to General Church office in the Pilgrim Holiness Church in1960, Dr. Abbott was Secretary of General Sunday Schools and Youth; Executive Director of Pilgrim Pension Plan; and General Secretary-Treasurer. In 1966, he was elected General Superintendent of the denomination. At the merger of the former Wesleyan Methodist Church and the Pilgrim Holiness Church, he was elected as one of four General Superintendents and consequently served on the Board of General Superintendents of The Wesleyan Church for twenty years. In 1988, he was appointed General Superintendent Emeritus of the Church.
The current Board of General Superintendents, in expressing appreciation for Dr. Abbott’s service, said, “As a younger leader himself at the time, he gave the prime years of his life to shaping the young Church’s government and values, overseeing massive corporate restructuring, clarifying the Church’s theological identity, and shepherding it through times of great threat to its future, as well as tremendous opportunities for growth.”
He served on various boards, including Owosso College, Eastern Pilgrim College, the Christian Holiness Association, the National Association of Evangelicals, and the World Methodist Council.
J. D. Abbott’s honors included membership on the Delta Epsilon Chi (the honor society of the Accrediting Association of Bible Colleges), and was cited for “outstanding achievement” as a minister and granted the Alumni Achievement award by the EPC Alumni Association.
