The Rev. James Blaine Friese, 93, passed away Sunday, Aug. 16, 2015, at Texas County Memorial Hospital.
He was born Jan. 28, 1922, in Alto Pass, Ill., son of Leo and Velma Courtright Friese.
He was a Methodist minister having served several churches in Missouri –– Alton, Thayer, Koshkonong, Van Buren, Mound City, New Bloomfield, Bowman UMC, Troy/Wright City and Winfield –– between 1950 and ’76. From ’55-’64, he served three churches in Hawaii: Kahuku, Oahu, Waianae, Oahu and Honokaa, Hawaii. In 1958, he was a founder of the church at Waianae, Oahu.
In the 1970s, he was a night watchman for two hospitals and Shaws Garden in St. Louis. After a time, he became a gardener/laborer and helped build the Japanese Garden at Missouri Botanical Gardens.
Survivors include his brother, Howard Friese of Sidney, Ill.; and four daughters, Bronwyn McNutt of Houston, Gloria Mahaffey of Browns Summit, N.C., Hope Scales of Greensboro, N.C., and Margaret Hoyt of Nashville, Tenn.
Services were Wednesday, Aug. 19, at the United Methodist Church in Houston with the Rev. Terry Lippstreu and the Rev. Bill Rice officiating. Burial was in St. Trinity Cemetery in St. Louis under the direction of Evans Funeral Home.
