Rev. Robert B. McCoy (Bob) was called to his Heavenly home on Tuesday, January 17, 2017. He was 88 years old, and had been hospitalized for pneumonia, but ultimately died from heart failure, kidney failure, and complications from Alzheimer’s disease. He had been a resident of Delmar Gardens – Creve Coeur for seven years, where he received wonderful care from a terrific staff. His family will always be grateful for their compassion.
He is survived by a son, David McCoy; a daughter, Susan Blizek, and her husband, son-in-law Robert Blizek; five grandchildren (Justin McCoy and his wife Caitlin (Cassidy) McCoy, Ryan Blizek, Sarah McCoy, and Lauren Blizek); and two great-grandsons, Casey McCoy (2 1/2) and Weston McCoy (7 months). There are many nieces and nephews, their spouses, and their children and grandchildren. Rev. McCoy was preceded in death in 2010 by his wife of 57 years, Sue (Rose) McCoy, and in 1999 by his daughter-in-law and David’s wife of 19 years, Belinda (Cross) McCoy. He was the last of his generation (brothers and sisters, brothers and sisters-in-law) to leave us.
Bob McCoy was born to Victor W. McCoy and Nellie (Swanner) McCoy on March 15, 1928, in Caruthersville, Missouri. His Dad was a successful grocery store owner who “lost it all” during the Great Depression, and his Mother was a homemaker. He had four older brothers (Cleo, Claude, Earl, and Charles), but his eldest sibling was a sister, Freddie. He grew up as a Boy Scout, ultimately earning the Eagle Scout award and all the “Palms” that were available in the 1940’s, as well as the God and Country award. He was a regular attendee and participant in the activities of his family’s church, Eastwood Memorial Methodist Church in Caruthersville, and played quarterback for the Caruthersville High School football team. His spending money came from working at a local hardware store. He graduated from high school early, in December, 1945, so that he could enter the Marines and serve his country upon turning 18 in March, 1946, at the very end of World War II.
The young Marine would serve Stateside, working at a Chris-Craft boat factory in the Carolinas that had been converted to military production. Upon his release from the Military in 1947, Bob enrolled at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. It was there, on the steps outside a classroom building on the Monday before Thanksgiving, 1947, that he learned that his father Victor had dropped dead of a heart attack. He had to hitchhike to get home.
But that was just the beginning of the “bad news.” On a snowy Christmas Eve, 1947, a policeman knocked on the door of his family’s home, bringing the news that his older brother Earl’s car had slid off the highway as he attempted to drive home to Caruthersville for Christmas from his own home in Memphis, Tennessee. The car had overturned into a ditch, breaking Earl’s neck and killing him instantly. This event, coupled with his father’s recent death, produced the introspection and soul-searching that led to Bob’s personal call to be a Minister of the Gospel.
He enrolled at Southeast Missouri State College (now University) in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, to be closer to home and his newly-widowed Mother. It was there that he began to date a young teaching student, Bettye Sue Rose. Their relationship blossomed, and although Bob would transfer to Central Methodist College (now University) in Fayette, Missouri, to complete a Bachelor’s Degree in History in December, 1951, they became engaged to be married on August 10, 1952. The future Rev. McCoy enrolled in Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in January, 1952. After their wedding and honeymoon in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, he and new wife moved to Dallas, Texas, where she worked at a GE light bulb factory and served as a church secretary, and he worked two jobs (as a ladies’ shoe salesman at a downtown department store on weekdays and weekends at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas) in addition to going to Seminary full-time.
Upon graduation in May, 1955, Rev. McCoy was ordained an Elder in the Methodist Church. He would go on to serve five Methodist churches in his career as a Pastor: New Madrid, MO 1955-1960; Malden, MO 1960-1966; Dexter, MO 1966-1970; Concord-Trinity UMC in south St. Louis County 1970-1977; and Ferguson UMC in Ferguson, MO 1977-1980. He left the Methodist denomination in 1980 to form an Independent congregation, John Wesley Renewal Church, which he pastored until its dissolution and his retirement several years ago.
David was born in January, 1958, when Rev. & Mrs. McCoy pastored in New Madrid, Missouri, and Susan would follow in December, 1961, when they were serving in Malden, Missouri. David was married in 1980, and Susan was married in 1984. They, along with their families, cousins, and many, many friends, will miss their Dad greatly, but take comfort in the knowledge that A Heavenly Home, which he spent his lifetime telling others about, is finally his to behold. Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow!
Visitation at Kutis Affton, 10151 Gravois, Monday, Jan. 23, from 6:30 – 9:00 pm. Funeral service Tuesday at 10:00 am.