Rev. Benjamin Lewis DeSpain
Cumberland Presbytery

Rev. Benjamin Lewis DeSpain, a retired Cumberland Presbyterian minister, died December 11 at the home of a son, Charlie DeSpain at Greensburg, Ky. He was 86 years of age.

Funeral Services were conducted at the Oak Forest church by Rev. V. A. Jones and Rev. J. M. Vaughn. Eleven ministers were among the many other friends present.

Rev. DeSpain professed faith in Christ at the age of 17 in 1889 and joined the Camp Ground church, near Greensburg, Ky. He later moved his membership to the Oak Forest church where he served as clerk and remained an elder until he came under the care of the presbytery in April, 1912 at the Mt. Moriah church in Metcalfe County. After serving the Cumberland Presbytery as one of their most faithful and efficient ministers for 45 years he retired in 1946.

He was a member of masonic lodge No. 704 of Summersville, Ky., for 46 years.

His wife, Alice Josephine Foster DeSpain, to whom he was married in 1895 preceded him in death in 1943. Nine of their 10 children survive. They are Mrs. Gussie Munday, Edmonton, Ky.; Abner DeSpain and Mrs. Gracie Towne, both of Louisville, Ky.; Ivo DeSpain, Joseph DeSpain and Charlie DeSpain, all of Greensburg; Raymond DeSpain, Summersville, Ky.; Mrs. Cornelia Milby, Beech Grove, Tenn.; and Finis DeSpain, Maysville, Ky. -- Rev. V. A. Jones

[Source: The Cumberland Presbyterian, January 6, 1959, page 15]