Posted: Mon 12:57 PM, Aug 06, 2012
The Rev. Edwin Bell Hanna, 85, formerly of Bowling Green, died July 26, 2012, at a nursing home in McCalla, Ala.
He was born Oct. 20, 1926, in Staunton, Va. For nearly 35 years, the Rev. Hanna faithfully served the Presbyterian Church (USA) as a missionary in the Republic of Lebanon, including 10 years during its civil war. After his return to the United States in 1985, he served as pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Middlesboro from 1986 until his retirement in 1992, and then served as supply pastor for Salem Presbyterian Church in Clark County from 1993 to 1998. Serving alongside him was Arpiné Yenovkian Hanna, his wife from 1949 until her death in 2010.
The Rev. Hanna attended Berea College under the Navy V-12 program, was a graduate of Miami University (Ohio) and had graduate degrees from Louisville Presbyterian Seminary, the University of Kentucky and the American University of Beirut, Lebanon.
He was the son of the late Rev. C. Morton Hanna and Margaret Bell Hanna and was preceded in death by a sister, Margallen Fichter.
He is survived by three sons, C. Philip Hanna of Columbia and his friend Natalie Lund, Edwin A. Hanna and his wife, Kim, of Bowling Green, and the Rev. Richard B. Hanna and his wife, Lisa, of Bessemer, Ala.; a brother, the Rev. Charles Hanna of Lexington; a sister, Bette Sikes of Chicago; sisters-in-law, Phyllis Hanna of Lexington and Leonora Y. White of Indian Harbour Beach, Fla.; four grandchildren, Parker Hanna, Owen Hanna, Dawn Purdey and Valerie Bell; four great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.
Expressions of sympathy may be made to Presbyterian mission work in the Republic of Lebanon at www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/world-mission/ or to a charity of your choice.
A private family service has been held and a public service will be held at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary, to be announced at a later date.
