Stanley Storey remembered
Stanley Storey, a retired minister and missionary, passed away 18 May. He was 90.
Born in Lansing, Michigan, 6 October 1926, he was the son of Allen and Alma Storey. When the Great Depression started in 1929, the Storey family moved to Texas. In 1934, the Storeys moved to Burbank, California, and during World War II the Storeys lived in Ohio, where Stanley graduated from high school in 1945. The family moved back to California and Stanley attended Pasadena Nazarene College (now Point Loma Nazarene University), graduating in 1949 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master of Arts degree in 1956.
During his second year of college, he met Norma Jeanne Pults. They both attended the Boyle Heights Mexican Church, where they perfected their Spanish. They married 14 April 1949. Stanley began his ministry as an interim pastor at the Boyle Heights Mexican Church, followed by pastoring the Upland Mexican Church. He served during the Korean War as a U.S. Navy hospital corpsman. He was discharged on his birthday, 6 October 1954.
In January 1956, Stanley and Norma received a telegram from the Nazarene World Missions Department, asking if they were still interested in missionary work. They accepted. Stanley was ordained and they made preparations to go to Guatemala. They served in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras for 38 years. His assignments as a missionary included serving at Bible schools and an orphanage, building churches, pastoring, teaching, leading Work & Witness teams, coordinating medical and dental teams, and serving as district superintendent and regional treasurer. Between 1986 and 1994, he coordinated 106 teams that constructed 86 projects. He worked with 2,000 team members.
Stanley and Norma retired 1 January 1995 after 38 years of missionary service. They continued serving in the Golden Hills Community Church of the Nazarene for 13 years and were involved with compassionate ministries. In June 2007, they moved to Rolla, Missouri, to live close to their daughter. They were active in the Rolla Church of the Nazarene. Their final move was to Frisco, Texas, where they attended and enjoyed the fellowship of brothers and sisters in Christ at the NewStart-Frisco Church of the Nazarene.
Stanley is survived by his wife of 68 years, Norma; a brother, Lee Storey; two children, Marlene Lilliker and Victor Storey; a foster grandson, Jose David Chavarria, and dozens of very close friends in California, Missouri, Texas, and Central America.
A funeral service will be held 11 a.m., 7 June at the Church of the Nazarene, 1513 S. Belt Line Rd., Grand Prairie, Texas, 75051. Full military honors will follow the funeral at Dallas-Fort Worth Veterans National Cemetery.
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