05 Apr On This Day in UB History: April 5 (the Ebys)

At age 17, Lloyd Eby became a Christian during a Salvation Army street meeting in Ontario. He later joined what is now the Stanley Park United Brethren church in Kitchener. In 1913, at age 22, he married Lizzie Thornton, who was born in London but moved to Canada as a child. Lloyd and Lizzie had met as teenagers at the Salvation Army.

Lloyd and Lizzie moved to Toronto, where they started three churches. Most men were fighting the Great War, so the churches ministered mostly to women and children. But when the men returned, they too filled the pews.

In 1918, Lizzie died in childbirth, along with their infant child.

Eula Sherk, an outgoing young woman from the Sherkston UB church, was doing mission work in Toronto. A relationship developed, and Eula and Lloyd were married April 5, 1920.

Lloyd and Eula enjoyed 49 years together–years of diverse ministry which included three missionary terms  in Sierra Leone, planting six churches in the Detroit area, and eight years in the bishopric. They retired in Fort Wayne, Ind. Lloyd passed away in 1969, Eula in 1988. (Read more about them in the March 2 post.)