James William Asbury's Obituary
James William Asbury was born August 18, 1927 in O'Fallon, Illinois to Earl Evans and Josephine Asbury and grew up with an older brother Earl and younger sister Mary. He graduated from New Baden High School in 1945 and then enlisted in the U.S. Navy, trained at Port Hueneme (CA) and served in the South Pacific. He received a 2 year degree from Blackburn College (Carlinville, IL). It was there, he met the love of his life, Bonnalee Pell. They married
May 29,1948 and moved to Champagne, IL where he received a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois in 1950. That same year Jim began his career in Hastings, NE with KN Energy. He was transferred to Longview TX in 1983 and finished his career there with Southern Gas (a subsidiary of KN), retiring in 1987. He lived there until his death.
Jim & Bonnie raised their four children in Hastings, William, Katherine, James & Thomas.
He was a member and former chair of the Longview Chamber of Commerce. He was an active member of First United Methodist Churches in Hastings and Longview. He was an active member of the Gideon's in Longview. He taught Sunday School and was a lay minister. He was also active with Aldersgate (a Methodist Conference on the Holy Spirit).
Jim and Bonnie enjoyed playing golf and traveling together (seeing all 50 states & 50+ countries of the world).
Jim loved and followed Jesus. He will be remembered as a loving and faithful husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather & friend.
James is survived by his loving wife, Bonnalee Asbury, his children, William Asbury (Luanne), Katherine Schnake (Marc), James Asbury (Cathy), his grandchildren, Brett Asbury (Jen), Tom Asbury (Keely), Jon Schnake, Ben Schnake, Kristen Trombetta (Derek), Evan Asbury (Rachel), Elizabeth Briggs (Thomas), great grandchildren Will, Luca, Hudson & Casey Asbury.
James was preceded in death by his parents, son, Thomas and brother Earl.
A memorial service will be held 9:30 AM Thursday June 25th at 1st United Methodist Church –Longview, TX. A livestream of the service can be viewed at www.facebook.com/LongviewFUMC or www.longviewfumc.org/resources/live-stream/.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to the First United Methodist Church in Longview or the Longview Gideons chapter.
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