The Reverend Dr. Greer S. Imbrie, former minister of the First Presbyterian Church in Bowling Green, Ohio, died on April 16 after a long illness. He was 85 years old. Dr. Imbrie was born March 8, 1919 in Braddock, Pennsylvania, the son of Rev. Theron DeLoss and Clara Imbrie. His brother, Edward Cochran Imbrie, predeceased him. A graduate of Grove City College, in 1940, which also awarded him an honorary doctorate in divinity, Dr. Imbrie received in Masters of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1943. He served as the minister of the Third Presbyterian Church in Altoona, Pa. from 1943-44. Following in the family tradition, he was a fifth-generation Presbyterian minister in the Imbrie family. During the Second World War, Dr. Imbrie was commissioned as a lieutenant in the United States Navy, and worked as a naval chaplain from 1945-46. On board the U. S. S. Black, a troop convoy traveling to India, he met Julia Ann McCorkle, who was serving at that time in the American Red Cross. They were married in September, 1946 in the chapel of Grove City College. Following the war, Dr. Imbrie pursued postgraduate studies in theology at New College, University of Edinburgh (Scotland), and then accepted a call to the First Presbyterian Church in London, Ohio, where he served as minister from 1947-1952. He was returned to active duty in the Navy during the Korean Conflict, acting as Chaplain at the naval base in Key West, Florida. On January 1, 1954, Dr. Imbrie became the minister of the First Presbyterian Church in Bowling Green, Ohio, where he remained until his retirement in 1984. Following his retirement, he continued for eleven years serving small congregations in Northwest Ohio and Northern Michigan as an interim minister. He was also an active member of the Kiwanis Club of Bowling Green for fifty years. In addition to Julia Imbrie, his wife of 58 years, Dr. Imbrie is survived by a son, Greer Imbrie, Jr., of Princeton, New Jersey, the sixth Presbyterian minister in the family; three daughters, Ann, of Poughkeepsie, New York; Charity, of Pittsburgh, PA, and Catherine Imbrie Milligan, of Los Cruces, New Mexico; and three grandchildren. Plans for a memorial service are pending and will be announced by Dunn Funeral Home.
Greer S. Imbrie came to London in 1947 to serve the church until he was called to the Navy in 1952. He became the minister of Bowling Green Ohio, Presbyterian Church in 1954.
Tom and Judy Schmidt, who lived over the garage, became babysitters later (too convenient); Mrs. Perry and Mrs. Ketsenbarger took over eventually. We visited them in Rhode Island during a visit to Brown University, and then wandered around in Canada (from PEI, and Anne of Gren Gables home, to the Gaspe Peninsula, to...).