Husband, father, grandfather, professor, theologian, philosopher

Longtime Pilgrim Place resident, husband, father, grandfather, professor, theologian, and philosopher Edward Albert Yonan, 89, died at Rauch Memory Care House at Pilgrim Place in Claremont on January 29.

Born on a small family farm near Knox, Indiana on January 24, 1936 to Benjamin and Shimamie (nee Desho) Yonan, Ed was the youngest of eight children. The family moved to Chicago in 1947 when he was 12 years old. He completed junior high and graduated from Carl Schurz High School in Chicago in 1954.

He graduated from Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois in 1958, majoring in religion and philosophy. He continued his education at the University of Chicago Divinity School, where he earned his Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1962, his Master of Arts in 1965, and his Doctor of Philosophy in 1968 in philosophical theology. He was the recipient of the University of Chicago Susan Colver Rosenberger Dissertation Prize.

He met his wife of 62 years, Mary Jean Allison, while a graduate student at the University of Chicago. They were married on March 19, 1962.

He was an assistant professor in the religion department at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire from 1966 to 1975, and in the philosophy and religious studies departments at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana from 1975 to 1980. During his 1968-69 sabbatical year at Dartmouth College, he served as theologian-in-residence at the American Church in Paris.

In 1980 he accepted a tenure track position in the religion department at Millikin University, a liberal arts college in Decatur, Illinois. He also served as a part-time university chaplain. A few years later he became a full-time professor and chair of the religion department. He was the Griswold Distinguished Professor at Millikin from 1993 to 2002. He retired in 2002 after 22 years of teaching religion at Millikin.

He was a longtime member of the American Academy of Religion, and was elected twice as the chair of the theology and philosophy of religion section of the Midwest AAR. In 1984-85 he was elected president of the theology and philosophy of religion section of the Midwest AAR. He applied for and was awarded five grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities during his 34-year academic career. He also wrote and published several articles and books.

He will be missed by his loving wife of 62 years, Mary; son, Mark Edward; grandsons, Anthony Benyamin and Samuel Mark; brother-in-law, Marvin Allison; and several nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents Benjamin and Shimamie (nee Desho) Yonan and by siblings Jennie Neesan, Joseph Yonan, Richard Anthony Yonan, Mary Casey, Edna Pelkola, Evelyn Yonan, and Alice Yonan.

Family and friends will gather in a celebration of his life at Pilgrim Place on a date yet to be determined.