The Austin College community extends sympathy and condolences to the family of John Ed Withers ’61. He served as a member of the College’s Board of Trustees from 1987 to 2001, and remained a senior trustee until his death on May 23, 2023.
John Ed represented Austin College through his service on the Texas Presbyterian Foundation Board several years and occasionally returned to campus for special events with his wife, Jean, an Austin College alum also from the class of 1961.
After graduation from Austin College, he attended Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary and received his M.Div. He and Jean raised their two daughters in Oklahoma City, where John Ed was pastor of Northwest Presbyterian Church for 20 years. Their daughters are also Austin College graduates—Rebecca Withers ’88 and Katherine Cobbs ’91.
A memorial service will be held November 25, 2023, at First Presbyterian Church in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and livestreamed.
The Family Obituary
John Edward Withers, III exited this world on May 23, 2023, when a rapid, ruthless infection felled a big man. Great in so many ways beyond his 6’4” stature (he lately claimed 6’3”), “John Ed” was a contemplative man of few words unless he was behind a pulpit, where he ministered to many during his lifetime’s work as an ordained Presbyterian (USA) minister. Thinker, gardener, reader, lover of nature, music and life, husband, Dad, granddaddy, brother, uncle, friend, pastor, and patriarch, he was born May 7, 1939, in Fort Worth, Texas.
He believed in the hope of a garden and the promise of fiery sunsets, was a fan of high spice, an avid cook and imbiber of red wine who loved a good bargain, committed song lyrics to memory along with poetry both ancient and modern, read thousands of books, binged network news and print media, painted light-filled landscapes and lots of windmills (and sketched a pretty mean cowboy profile, too). A dedicated upcycler and resourceful collector of miscellany and mementos, he could fix just about anything with a crooked nail or rusty bailing wire and was a firm believer in the maxim, “they don’t make ’em like they used to,” which is why he loved to drive the vintage 1932 Chevy that belonged to his grandfather. A man of faith, he once wrote a Credo that tells his story, a kind of private sermon by a brilliant thinker and everyday theologian who claimed his identity was rooted in the community of a universal “church,” and that hope, like faith, was a gift.
A graduate of Austin College in Sherman, Texas, where he met his surviving wife of almost 62 years, Jean C. Eberts, John Ed championed the benefits of a Liberal Arts education, and later served on the college’s Board of Trustees for over a decade. He earned his MDiv at Austin Theological Seminary, spent his seminary intern year at the Old Dutch Church in Kingston, NY, before accepting a call to his first ordained pastorate in Clifton, Texas. Later churches served include University Presbyterian Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he worked with the LSU campus ministry before returning to Texas to serve Grace Presbytery at churches in the Dallas area, preaching on weekends and training as a stockbroker at Rauscher Pierce during the week, cultivating one of his lifelong interests in financial markets.
A move to Oklahoma City to become Sr. Pastor at Northwest Presbyterian Church came in 1973, and by 1977, John Ed was a force behind the first-ever merger of a Presbyterian USA church (Northwest Presbyterian) and a United Church of Christ congregation (Zion United Church of Christ), ultimately earning pastoral standing in the UCC denomination as well. The newly named, united Church of the Savior would be John Ed’s longest pastorate, and he ministered there for 20 years while serving on multiple Boards of Trustees (Presbyterian Hospital OKC, Austin College, Mo Ranch Conference Center, Texas Presbyterian Foundation) and was active in leadership roles and on committees of the Indian Nations Presbytery. In 2000, John Ed was awarded Austin Seminary Association’s Distinguished Service Award.
An adventurer at heart, eager traveler, and dedicated planner of meandering road trips and notorious “circle drives,” John Ed and Jean began their pre-retirement years by accepting interim pastoral assignments by way of “traveling”—a modest approach to exploring new communities and a practical way to become a part of them. John Ed acted as Interim Pastor to congregations in Nebraska (First Presbyterian Church, Omaha), Kentucky (Harvey Browne Memorial Presbyterian, Louisville) Arkansas (Second Presbyterian Church, Little Rock), Texas (First Presbyterian Church, El Paso, and his childhood church, First Presbyterian Church, Ft. Worth), as well as New Mexico (United Church of Angel Fire and in a short-term, transitional role at First Presbyterian, Santa Fe), before ultimately retiring to his beloved New Mexico in 2006.
Earlier generations of Withers had homesteaded in Fort Sumner and made New Mexico their home, and the Land of Enchantment worked its namesake magic on John Ed, too. Good things run in families. As a young man in the 1950s, John Ed helped to construct a family cabin in the northeastern corner of the state, and he returned, religiously, to New Mexico throughout his lifetime, before moving permanently. Santa Fe became the couple’s principal residence, reserving John Ed’s earthly “heaven” of Ute Park, New Mexico, site of the family cabin, as a cherished retreat into nature and the mesmerizing beauty of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. John Ed’s passion for that hand-hewn, creekfront shelter on the Cimarron River was perhaps his first legacy, as his surviving daughters Rebecca Withers (Carlos Briceno) and Katherine Cobbs (John), five granddaughters—Alexandria and Gabrielle Chastenet de Géry and Parker, Ella, and Adeline Cobbs, and one grandson, Nico Chastenet de Géry, all claim it as their own paradise, too. This love of place is shared by John Ed’s surviving sister, Barbara Withers Ivy, and her descendants, the “Ivy” clan in the Withers/Ivy family cabin name. John Ed is also survived by sister-in-law Joyce Eberts, three nephews, a niece and their families, and two bonus Briceno grandchildren.
“The end of faith is not certainty. When pressed to “give an account of the hope that is in you,” the best response in most cases is silence. Maybe a little smile. Most certainly, a sigh of gratitude.” –The Reverend John E. Withers, III, Credo, December 2018
A memorial service will be held November 25, 2023, at First Presbyterian Church in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and livestreamed.
In lieu of flowers, please make a memorial gift to your favorite charity.