Tohline, Daniel Wesley
6/13/2010
DANIEL WESLEY TOHLINE
NOVEMBER 5, 1925 – JUNE 13, 2010
Daniel Wesley Tohline was born in Ft. Worth, Texas on November 5, 1925, to George and Pauline Tohline. He experienced a lonely childhood: his father was gone for weeks at a time as master Mechanic for Gulf Pipeline, his mother complained of a constant headache, and his brother and sister were 10 and 12 years older than he.
After his mother’s death and his father’s remarriage when Dan was 15, he attended Texas A&M until he was old enough to enlist in the U.S. Navy where he was trained in installing coding and decoding equipment . . . a responsibility that took him by air to many countries of the world.
After his discharge from military service, he attended a youth revival in Beaumont, Texas where the pastor encouraged him to enter the ministry. With this idea of how he could reach out to others in their need, Dan enrolled in Centenary College where he sang in the choir and supported himself by working in the library and delivering newspapers.
It was while the choir was on a tour in south Louisiana that, through his roommate Bob McKay, he met Veda Duff, a Home Economics teacher. Theirs was a whirlwind courtship culminating in marriage later that year and an appointment to the Sibley-Pinegrove-Evergreen Charge.
After graduating from Centenary College, Dan attended Vanderbilt Theological Seminary and pastored churches in and around Columbia and Lewisburg.
With two small children and another on the way, the couple returned to Louisiana where Dan was employed by Sun Oil Company for two years and also served as pastor to churches in Petriville, Church Point, and Iota. Then, with debts paid and acceptance granted, the family moved to Colorado where Dan completed his Master’s Degree by commuting weekly from the churches he pastored at Last Chance. Later, through correspondence, he gained his Doctoral status.
After two years in Colorado, the family returned to Louisiana and through ensuing years served churches in Jeanerette, Weeks Island, and Lydia; Hathaway (Raymond); Moss Bluff and Sulphur; Elysian Fields in New Orleans; Vivian and Trees; Jonesboro; Mangum in Shreveport; First Church in Lafayette; and First Church New Orleans.
During his pastorate at Moss Bluff, he was chosen to be one of twelve ministers to ride horseback to Baltimore, a distance of more than 1350 miles in 40 days, to commemorate those ministers who, in the early days of Methodism, went by horseback on their appointed rounds. Along the route he shared the Word of God through preaching in churches, on courthouse steps, and anywhere crowds gathered. As a result, 537 persons accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and 4,310 persons renewed their commitment to Christ.
Upon retirement, Dan and Veda made their home in Jonesboro where he created many beautiful, useful, and decorative articles in his woodworking shop.
Dan and Veda’s older son, Jayce, is a full time partner in Right Now Technologies, negotiating with and working out satisfactory solutions to differences within a company or the military. Barbette is Office Manager for a fabric company in Baton Rouge; she designs and quilts wall hangings and baby quilts, and serves as pianist and part-time secretary for her church. Joel, who has been on the faculty at LSU for 28 years, is known worldwide for his work in astrophysics and is sought out for service on national committees.
Dan is remembered for his care as a pastor, his informative and encouraging sermons, and his beautiful tenor voice.
Veda Duff Tohline
