May 28, 1927 – January 26, 2023
Pastor A. Theodore Halsted, Jr., age 95, of Richmond, Indiana, died Thursday, January 26, 2023, at Friends Fellowship Community.
Ted was born May 28, 1927, in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The son of a Methodist pastor, he grew up in several towns in western Michigan. He graduated from Cadillac High School and DePauw University, then served as a missionary in south India from 1949 to 1952. His experiences there inspired a global outlook that continued throughout his life. In India, he met Marceline Louise Smith, whom he married in 1953, while a student at Yale Divinity School. Ted served as a United Methodist minister in various eastern Michigan parishes, then as District Superintendent of the Upper Peninsula, retiring to Kalamazoo in 1992. He and Marcy moved in 2001 to Friends Fellowship Community in Richmond. Ted was the Holder of the Michigan Conference Cane, which honors the oldest clergy member of the conference and continues a long-standing tradition.
Love, inclusion, and social justice were, for Ted, the heart of the gospel. He expressed this by working for racial justice, participating in service projects at home and abroad, and endowing educational funds for students in India and Zimbabwe, and Anishinaabe in northern Michigan. Over the decades, many international students lived in the Halsted home as part of the family. Ted loved music, singing tenor in church choirs, playing violin in the Richmond Community Orchestra, and attending concerts. He appreciated the outdoors, particularly Lake Louise in Michigan, where his family built a modest cabin in the 1930s. He donated generously to make it possible for others, especially children, to enjoy nature.
Ted will be lovingly remembered for his gentle wit, his faith-filled optimism, his thoughtful writing, and his bread baking.
Survivors include his daughters, Gwen (Michael Birkel) Halsted and Carolyn Halsted; grandchildren, Anna Margaret (Emmanuel) Greene and Jonathan (Erin Stone) Birkel; great-granddaughter, Louisa; many nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Marceline Smith Halsted; parents; siblings, Heather Halsted, Dick Halsted and Lynn Dopp.
Gifts in Ted’s memory may be given to UMCOR, United Methodist Committee on Relief, 458 Ponce De Leon Avenue NE, Atlanta, Georgia 30308. www.umcor.org
Doan & Mills Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Condolences may be sent to the family via the guest book at www.doanmillsfuneralhome.com.
*Halsted, Alfred Theodore, Jr. – DECEASED [(RE) T S. India, 1950; F 1956] Gosport IN 1948; Missionary in S. India Conf 1949; school 1952; Stamford Circuit CT 1954; Dixboro 1956; Dexter 1960; Hemlock, Nelson 1965; Marlette 1970; Lincoln Park: First 11/1/1975; Redford 1980; Marquette District Superintendent 1986; Retired 1992.
Last Updated on November 2, 2023