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Title
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DePagter, Miles J.
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MILES J. DEPAGTER
- oMr s Joanna Kathryn DePagter spent July 4th ,
(Independence Day) 1913 with he r mother in Grand
Rapids,
!l~ icbig an.
On July 5th, her first and
only child was born.
By common parental cons ent
be was called Miles J. DePagter.
The little fa mily of thr ee made t heir home
i n Detro it, whe re Mi l es gr ew up.
His ed ucation
was r ece ived on the e a st side of t ow n; f irs t, in
t he Hillger Grade .Schoo l and from there to Barbour
Int ermedi ate .
His g r ade s we re sli ght l y better
than ave r age.
The lure of athletics had it ' s
embryoni c beginn ing when h e made the varsi t y
socc e r squad.
Next i n l ine edu cati onally was
Southeastern High Schoo l whe r e h is grades i mp roved
but h is athletic cont rib ut ion s were neglig ible;
par t ly beca use this need in his life was being
me t by the church athle t ic program whe re he p l ayed
bo th basebal l and basketball.
I t was during
th e s e yea rs t h a t the i nfluenc e of a christi an home ,
yo ung p e Jp l e ' s activities i n the Epworth League
and s ome Rev i val services began to de .termine his
life work.
He ta l ke d to p a s tors and lay people,
the n re a d s e \ e r a l
bQoks ab out the type of life
2
that a preacher leads and after over a year of
praying and talking t o those outside of h is own
family , t he f am ily i t self f i nal l y heard the wo rd.
The the ology of the pas tors an d evang e l is t s who
came to his home church, some wha t determi ned t he
choice of Ashbury Colleg e as the p lace of hi s
post - hi gh sc hoo l
tra i ning i n pre paration for the
mi n ist r y.
r he chi ef events of h is co l leg e caree r
i n clude the p r ogr ess from an all " C" s t udent as a
Fr eshman, t o an all "A" student as a Senior, the
recei vi ng of t en varsity l e tt e rs wh ich included
bas eba l l, tennis, an d bas ketbal l, also an i r. vi t a t i on t o join the Wilsonia Debating Society whe re
he did some i nt e r rr.ure l debating .
Gradu at i on, with
a Ba chel or of Arts degr ee , wa s in J une of 1935.
The mo re s p ecial i zed p r ep arat i on f or the
mini s try began in Se minary .
He received his
Bachelo r of Di vi n i t y de gr e e from the As hbury
The ological Se mi nary i n 193?.
While there he
was a ppo inted Assoc i ate P rof e s sor i n cha r ge of
Athle tics for the entire ath l etic p rog ram of
the combined i nsti tutions.
~ he
Detro it 0onfe r e n ce of the Meth od ist
Church pref erred th a t t hose
ent er i ng t he Confe r-
3
ence should have their de gree in Divi n ity from a
Methodist Schoo l and inasnuch as the Ashbury Theo log i cal Se minary was r:ot Metho di st in name, alt hough
Ar minian i n the ology, they requ e sted h im t o go to
a different se mi na ry for a nother Bachelor of Di vin ity degree.
He did and was graduat e d from the
candler Schoo l of
~ heology
at Emory University with
a second B. D. de g ree, i L the y ear 1940.
Wh il e
the re he was Associate P astor of the Capital View
~et hod ist
church in At lanta, Geo r gia.
The educa-
tion wa s financed through an athletic scholar s h ip ,
wh ich consisted of coaching basketball and being
a p laying coach of the ten n is team.
J une, 1940, Bishop Blake appointed him to
his first full-time p astora te in the De tr oit conf e rence, the Har per Avenue Methodist
Ch urch .
He
served this church for almos t t wo full years and
j ust be f ore t he Gonference of 1942 he ent ered the
Naval Chapla incy.
At that
time the end octrina-
t ion course was t wo months i n lengt h and conve ned
a t 1\orfolk, Virg i nia (WHERE HE :MET HIS FUTURE :W.ATE).
r he next four years represent the majo r
por·t i on
iK'R~K ikR~
of the Se cond World
ti me be s p ent i n the Navy.
~:1 ar,
wh ich
Two years of t hat ti me
foun d him i n South America , l a r g el y i n Br azil .
4
The other t wo years we re in t he United States i n
Boot Training Camps and a Retraining Command fo r
Court Martial p ris oners.
Upon ret urn to ci v ilian li f e late in Feb ruary, he was a ppo inted to the work of a Confe r en ce
Yout h Directo r fo r the Det r oit Confe re nce by Bishop
7lade.
It was during t his y ear (May 25 , 1946}
t hat he married Miss Mi nn ie
·/ ur g inia.
~ o rse
fr om Norfo lk,
They were marri e d i n the Epworth Meth-
od ist chur ch of that cit y,
They are now livi ng at
5443 Sheridru1 Avenure, De troit 13 , Michie an .
I affirm the authenticity of the
af o re wr i t ~el
is the acco unt of my own lif e.
Respectfu lly submitted,
(Signed)
Mile s J.Dep agte r
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expe ri ence and Church conn ec tions:
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comments, experiences , episodes__
c h ~p l J in S '~ rv ed
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in B r az il _ _
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-p-a:per on€tor
18 . Can you g i ve.-ori-·a . sep-er a te
-tw-o-or thre_e.dr.ama tic
i ncidents occurring duri ng yo~r ini st ry ~h ich might be publ ishe d in a book un de1· su ch a title as 11 Highlights of Methodis t
r.:ini st e r s 11 '? .• :!~ .!.-.~_t_h_e ~~~!. the 0h ap h . i n:..:c:....lyl.-.!"--------- - l S ... c~n ycn:l-er1cTo seclip.pi ngs of fo.niiy happeningsoi· ministerial
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20. If the s ubject of this sketch is deceased , please g ive
Dats of 1eath
Pla ce
Pl ace of buriai_______
----..--...,.-r.:c:1!Gs o f officiating ~.:in ister~--------=::::-:_:-:_:_ _ _ __
REV. MILES DE PAGTER, of the De·
troit
is a t present working al
Mr. De Pagter
the Downtown Y.M.C.A. in Detroit in
charge of the Boys' Division, which currently boasts a membership in excess of
1800. He has been invited to bring the
messages at Dickinson College, Carlis le,
Pennsylvania, during their Religion in
Life Emphasis, Feb. 12-18. The theme
will be "Cooperating With the Inevitables." He will give two messages and
Lhree talks dail..v for the five school day
)eriod. ~· C.. Ff ·
DePagter, Miles J.