GERRY, N.Y. – Rev. Evelyn Mary Long Hasselbrock died quietly Sunday morning, Jan. 7, 2007, at Heritage Village Health Care, Gerry, N.Y. She was born Aug. 28, 1914, in Sherman and grew up in the country among eight brothers and sisters. She found her life mission around 1936 while living in Tonawanda, N.Y., with her grandmother and attending the local Free Methodist Church. When she moved back home to Sherman in 1937, she organized Sunday school classes and studied by correspondence. In 1942 she was placed in a parish in Saco, to do missionary work. She moved to Gardiner, in 1943, where she took control of the pastorate in the Free Methodist parish. She was ordained in 1949, and remained in Maine until 1955, when she was appointed as pastor of a small church in Franklin, N.H. She transferred to a parish in Warrensburg, N.Y., in 1959, and in 1963 moved to the Free Methodist Church, Palmer, Mass., where she then stayed until the 1980s. She met her husband, James Hasselbrock, while she was in Gardiner and they married in 1960. They had no children of their own, but were favorites among their numerous nieces and nephews. Rev. Hasselbrock loved children and her family and was always there to help when someone was in need. She loved to laugh and was continually busy in some way helping others. She was predeceased by her husband, James Hasselbrock; brothers, Percy Long, Carrol Long and Irvin Long; and sisters, Arlene Frank and Amy Strout. She is survived by two sisters, Pearle Temple of Bowdoinham and Florice Pasternak of San Diego, Calif.; one brother, Rudoph Long of Sherman Mills, as well as numerous nieces, nephews and friends. She touched many lives and will be deeply missed. Services will be held 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 13, at Staples Funeral Home, 53 Brunswick Ave., Gardiner. Visitation will be held 10-11 a.m. preceding the service. In lieu of flowers please make a donation in her honor to Free Methodist New England Conference or a church of your choice.
REV. EVELYN MARY LONG HASSELBROCK
