Reverend James D. Hargleroad

The Reverend James D. “Buzz” Hargleroad, 85, of Fort Collins and Tucson, died on August 23 after a fourteen-year journey with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. He was born in Hastings, NE on July 3, 1932, the son of James C. and Beulah (Deems) Hargleroad. He graduated from Tekamah High School and the University of Nebraska. After two years in the U.S. Marine Corps, he enrolled at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. After ordination, he served as pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Cozad, NE. In 1964, he was called as pastor of Calvin Presbyterian, the only African-American congregation in the Presbytery of Omaha. In 1965, he and the church’s youth were featured in an Oscar-nominated film, “A Time for Burning,” which exposed the fears and tensions among the city’s white congregations in the face of racial change. The film was shown as part of Fort Collins’ E-Racism Film Series in 2009. He later served as Interim Director of the Commission on Church and Race for the Presbyterian Synod of Nebraska and as a Field Representative for Omaha’s Human Relations Department. He moved to Chicago in 1972 to serve as Child Development Coordinator for United Christian Community Services, a collegium of historic Presbyterian and United Church of Christ neighborhood houses, for which he developed more than twenty daycare and after school programs. In 1975, he was called as pastor of Lake View Presbyterian Church, where he served until 1981 when the family moved to McHenry County. There he served for six years as director of Pleasant Valley Outdoor Center, a program of Chicago’s Community Renewal Society, which served inner city churches, families and organizations as well as schools that utilized the center for environmental education. He then became director of Lakeside Center, a community and retreat center ministry of First Congregational Church, Crystal Lake. In 1989, he was named director of the Interfaith Council for the Homeless in Chicago. Once again the program expanded under his direction. This included several housing developments for special needs populations and Interfaith House (now The Boulevard), which supports persons who are homeless in breaking the cycle of homelessness while recovering from illness or surgery. During this period, he also assisted several Chicago area congregations as interim or part-time pastor and served as an adjunct faculty member for McCormick Seminary’s joint program with the School of Social Service Administration of the University of Chicago. In 2003, he undertook a 14-month commitment to serve the Papago United Presbyterian Church on the Tohono O’odham Nation in Sells, AZ, southwest of Tucson. During that time, he became ill and was diagnosed with leukemia soon after his return to Louisville where his wife was employed by the Presbyterian Church (USA). He is survived by his wife of 45 years, The Reverend Bobbi Wells Hargleroad; sons, Deems (Jennifer Hargleroad, DDS; Alexander, Benjamin and Jane) of Fort Collins, and Matthew (Michelle Heitmann; Adelaide and Iris) of Bellingham, WA; a daughter, Celia (Scott Kool; Avery and Alder); a brother, J. Stanley (Elizabeth) of LaJolla, CA, and half-brothers John (Jenny) of Bull Shoals, AR and William (Alicia) of Gypsum, CO. A Service to Celebrate his Life and Ministry will be held at Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ, 916 W Prospect Road, Fort Collins on Tuesday, September 26 at 11:00 A.M. A gathering for Chicago area friends and colleagues will be held at The Boulevard, 3456 W. Franklin Blvd. on Saturday, Oct. 21 at 2:00 p.m. A Service to Celebrate his Life and Ministry will be held at Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson on Sunday, Nov. 19 at 3:00 P.M. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts to Southside Church would be welcomed.

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Reverend James D. Hargleroad

July 3, 1932 - August 23, 2017