Tribute to Warren Heil, Jr., lay delegate to General and Jurisdictional Conferences

By Lisa Bender, Head Laity Delegate, General Conference 2019

Warren Heil, Jr.

The Susquehanna Conference Delegation to General Conference 2019 is mourning the loss of one of our faithful laity members, Warren Heil, Jr., of Asbury UMC in Scranton.

Warren was diagnosed with cancer a year ago. Side effects from treatment kept him from attending our annual conference in June, however he was able to join the delegation for a meeting in late August with Bishop Park. Warren shared his hope that he could be part of our delegation to General Conference 2019 in St. Louis in spite of his illness. In mid-October, however, he was admitted to hospice care. He passed on to his final reward with his Lord on Friday, October 26.

Warren had been involved beyond his local church starting at age 12, serving annually as a lay member to the Wyoming Conference. He was elected by Susquehanna Conference to the 2012 Northeastern Jurisdictional (NEJ) Delegation and again was elected to serve as a 2016 General Conference and NEJ lay delegate. He took these elections very seriously and was honored to be involved, studying hundreds of pages of documents prior to voting, and participating in the election of bishops at the NEJ conferences.

We thank God for the witness of Warren’s spirit and of his commitment to Christ and the larger church. We extend our sympathy to Warren’s parents, Gail and Warren Heil, Sr., and his sister TerriAnn.