Rev. William Franklin Hunter, DMin, PhD, was born on June 2, 1927 to Danish immigrant parents Christine Olsen (nee Nielsen) and Ingolf Hjalmar “Carl” Olsen at Franklin Hospital, San Francisco, California.          He grew up in Oakland, California. Upon his mother’s death in 1935, he became the legally adopted son of Rev. John R. and Dollye B. Hunter.  Bill entered into eternal life in the presence of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on May 7, 2017 in Ripon, California.
   Bill is survived by his daughters, Kirsten V. Dorsey (John) and Audrey M. Tkalec (George), granddaughters Leslie Beltran (Danny), Monica Lara and Kari Meidlinger (Joseph), and great grandchildren Ireesa Danielle, Jessenia Davina, Destiny Janae, Dominic Rafael, Madelyn Florence, Joseph John and great great grandchild Cristian Alexander. Bill is also survived by his brothers Del Gravier (Rein) and Carl “Ed” Jorgensen Velma) and many cousins, nieces, and nephews in the United States, Canada, and Denmark.
   He is predeceased by his wife of 68 years, Florence LaRue Hunter (nee Haglin), by his birth and adoptive parents, brothers Robert Gravier and Paul Hunter, sister Marie Miller, half brother Siebert Sarrensen, half-sisters, Rose Sorensen DuBois, Ruby Sorensen Noleroth, and Sally Campbell, paternal grandparents Martin Emil Olsen and Caroline Marie E.A. Andersen (Copenhagen, Denmark), maternal grandparents, Niels Nielsen, and Marie Catrine Lassen (Jutland, Denmark), and great grandson David Bettencourt
   Bill attended Manzanita School, Alexander Hamilton Jr. High, and Fremont High School (graduated January 1945) in Oakland, California. He served in the United States Coast Guard toward the end of WWII (1945-1946) and was a proud member of Clinton McCausland Post 190 of The American Legion where he was post chaplain for several years.  Bill earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at Northwestern College/University of Northwestern (St. Paul, MN), and did graduate study at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (ThM, DMin), Fuller Theological Seminary (M.A.), and United States International University (PhD).  In addition, as a retirement project he studied nursing at St. Cloud Technical College and was a licensed practical nurse in Minnesota.  He was ordained to the Gospel ministry in 1952 and ministered in various pastoral capacities at Baptist churches in Fremont, Alameda, and Oakland, California. With his wife Florence, he served several terms as a missionary to the former Belgian Congo and to Madagascar under the Conservative Baptist Foreign Mission Society (since renamed World Venture, Littleton, CO). He assumed a faculty position at Rosemead School of Psychology at Biola University in 1973, retiring in 1992 as a faculty emeritus (associate professor of psychology and University Library collection development librarian).  Bill was editor of the Journal of Psychology and Theology from 1983 to 1992.  He held a California license for many years as a Marriage and Family Therapist and was a longtime member of several professional organizations. He was an ordained Baptist minister having served churches in Oakland, Fremont, and Alameda. A former member of Lake Avenue Church, Pasadena, and Big Valley Grace Community Church, Modesto, more recently he has attended Calvary Reformed Church, Ripon. In his retirement years, he was editor and writer of a ministry web blog, www.prayfordenmark.com.
  A memorial service will be held at Calvary Reformed Church, at 11:00 a.m. on May 25, 2017 with reception following.  Interment will take place at a later date at San Joaquin National Cemetery, Santa Nella. Memorials may be made to the Hunter Dissertation Prize, an endowed scholarship at Biola University, 13800 Biola Avenue, La Mirada, CA 90639, or to World Venture, 1501 W. Mineral Avenue, Littleton, CO 80120-5612, or to the Aplastic & MDS International Foundation, 100 Park Avenue, Suite 108, Rockville, MD 20850.

Ripon
Manteca (Calif.) Bulletin
Saturday, May 20, 2017