03 Mar Rev. Paul J. Baty, 1940-2026

Rev. Paul J. Baty, 85, passed away February 28, 2026, in New Castle, Ind. For the past 14 years, he has pastored the Pleasant Hill United Brethren church in Muncie, Ind. He preached his final message there on February 22.

Funeral service: noon on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at the Sproles funeral home  (2400 S. Memorial Dr., New Castle, IN 47362). Visitation 4-7 pm Tuesday, March 3, at the funeral home.

Baty grew up in New Castle and went on to serve four years in the US Marine Corps (as did his brothers). In 1996, he retired after 30 years with New Castle Chrysler Corporation.

He is survived by his wife, Parma Lou, whom he met at a county fair in 1957 and married four years later. They were married for 64 years and had three daughters.

You can read the online obituary here: https://www.sprolesfamilycares.com/obituaries/paul-baty/#!/Obituary

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Correction: This article originally stated, as posted in the obituary, that Rev. Baty pastored the Mt. Pleasant Church in New Castle. That has been corrected. Rev. Baty pastored the Pleasant Hill United Brethren Church in Muncie.

26 Feb Death of Rev. Robert Mentzer, 1941-2026

30 Jan Rev. Virgil Hull Obituary (1931-2026)

Rev. Virgil E. Hull passed away January 19, 2026, in South Daytona, Fla., just weeks shy of his 95th birthday. He was as a church planter and longtime leader in Florida Conference. His passion for evangelism and starting churches put him in the mold of the early United Brethren founders.

Memorial service: 11:00 am February 28, 2026
Location: First UB Church, 560 Flomich Ave., Holly, Hill, Fla.

Hull was born in 1931 in Perry County, Ohio, and graduated from high school in 1949 in Bremen, Ohio. He earned an undergraduate degree from Huntington College in 1958, went on to graduate from the HC seminary, and was ordained in 1962. Before entering fulltime ministry, he worked as a short- and long-distance truck driver, while also pastoring churches in Indiana and Ohio.

In 1964, sensing God’s call to plant churches in Florida, Hull and his family (which then included six young children) boarded a schoolbus filled with their belongings and moved to Florida. That year, he founded First UB Church, located in Holly Hill, the first United Brethren church in Florida. By the end of the year, attendance was about 150. The congregation bought property in February 1966, and in the years ahead added elementary and junior high schools, a 13-room retirement center, and an extensive ministry to senior citizens called the Three Score Club. In 1972, First UB became the mother church for Faith UB in nearby Port Orange. Hull was also instrumental in starting UB churches in other cities.

Hull pastored First UB for 23 years. In 1987, he launched back into his first love: full-time church planting. The family moved to Fort Myers, where he already had a Bible study going with about ten people; he’d been driving there every Thursday afternoon and returning to Daytona early the next morning. and the next few years were frenetic with church planting activity. The first service of Friendly Church in Fort Myers; was held in September 1987 in a rented Seventh Day Adventist gymnasium. By the spring of 1988, they were averaging 60 people. Meanwhile, Family Community Church took root in the suburbs of Lehigh Acres; it’s first service was held on Easter Sunday evening in 1988 in an American Legion Hall which reeked of cigarette smoke and liquor. Two years later, in April 1990 Fellowship UB church began meeting in Clearwater, Fla. He aslo developed contacts in Naples, Haines City, and LaBelle with the intention of starting churches in those locations.

Hull was a visionary, seeing possibilities here, opportunities there, a crack in the door somewhere else. His plan was to get churches started and turn them over to other people so he could continue starting new churches.

Hull was passionate about sharing the Gospel and winning people to Christ. He led revival meetings at churches and camps across the United States, as well as in Jamaica and Nova Scotia. Even in his final days, he witnessed to nurses and aides.

Virgil and Evangeline (Vannie) were married in 1950. Virgil served in the US Army 1952-1954, and while stationed in Germany, his first child was born; he didn’t see her until she was nine months old. Vannie died in 2001 after 51 years of marriage. He then married Lucy Conner Hull, who passed away in 2008.

Hull is survived by his six children, 18 grandchildren, 33 great-grandchildren, and four great-great-grandchildren.

Preferred memorial contributions can be made to Faith United Brethren Church (in memory of Virgil Hull), 4700 S. Clyde Morris Blvd., Port Orange, FL 32129.

06 Jan Death of Rev. Richard Case

Rev. Richard “Dick” C. Case, 82, passed away December 31, 2025, in West Lafayette, Ind.

08 Sep Ruth Faber Obituary

Ruth Joanne Faber, widow of longtime United Brethren minister Ralph Faber, passed away September 2, 2025, in Hoopeston, Ill. She was 90. Ruth and Ralph, who passed away in 2019, were married 64 years and spent 35 years pastoring UB churches in Illinois (Manlius, Quincy, Rockford, Leaf River, and Claytonville) and Kansas (Abilene). Ralph served some of those years as conference superintendent and General Conference delegate. Funeral services for Ruth were held Monday, September 8, in Princeton, Ill.

Read more about Ruth and her family in her official obituary.

26 Aug Rev. Paul “David” Graham

02 May Death of Mabel Mundy

Mabel Mundy, 84, passed away April 28, 2025, in Huntington, Ind.

05 Mar Death of Rev. Roger Overmyer

Rev. Roger Overmyer, a United Brethren pastor for 48 years in Ohio and Pennsylvania, passed away Saturday evening, March 1, 2025.

(Submitted by Steve Dennie)