Evelyn H. Looper

Evelyn was born to Rev. John F. and Cuba (Hill) Hall on November 21, 1935 in LaHabra, CA, during the Halls’ first furlough from their missionary work in Upper Volta, West Africa. She had her first birthday on the steamer in the harbor of New York City as the captain waited for permission to sail as the Halls returned to Africa for their second term. Evelyn passed away Monday, March 23, 2015 at Saint Francis Hospital in Tulsa.

Growing up in West Africa, she was bilingual from an early age, speaking both English and More’, the language of the Mossi tribe among whom her parents labored. Her father was a skilled linguist who, along with her mother and another missionary couple, was able to translate the entire Bible into More’. Her early exposure to language study gave Evelyn a love for language and she added French and also a rudimentary knowledge of Spanish to her repertoire. In order to help pass on her heritage to her children and grandchildren, she authored a book about growing up in Africa, Under His Wings: Memoirs of A West African Missionary Kid.

Her education was a combination of home schooling, private and public schools, and she earned both a Bachelors and Masters degree in Education with additional majors in counseling, social studies, and French. She also completed the courses required from Berean School of the Bible and was fully ordained as a minister by the Assemblies of God in 1991. During her senior year of college, she met John Clifton Looper, and after a year of teaching for her and graduate school for him, they were married on May 24, 1958. Within the next six years God blessed them with five children.

Evelyn had felt the call of God as a teenager to take the Gospel to the lost overseas, but things never worked out for her to become a foreign missionary. However her passion for missions never left her and God used her to touch lives in many situations right here in the United States. She taught a variety of subjects in the public schools for 20 years (including history, sociology, French and English) in high school, junior high, and college. In 1986, God provided the opportunity to take early retirement from the schools and to enter full-time ministry. She was hired by Pastor Richard Exley as the Minister of Pastoral Care at Christian Chapel, where she served until early 1994. At that point, she resigned and in the next six months had both knees replaced. When she recovered from that, she and John accepted the invitation to assist Pastor Mike Buie as Ministers of Pastoral Care at Cathedral of Praise, where they served until retirement in 2006.

Succeeding Evelyn are her husband, Rev. John Looper, their five children and their families – Daphne Looper, Clif and Brennan Looper (with Paul, Joseph, Braeden, Raevyn) , Sherry and Andy Socaciu (with John Andrew & Sarah), Kathy and Kurt Kurin (with Hattie & Lilly), and Jack and Tzeitel Looper (with Jeremy & Braden). She is also succeeded by her brothers and sister and their families – Rev. David & Jan Hall, Rev. Jim & Betty Hall, and Betty Ann & Herb Hall-Loomis, and many dear friends.

Even after retirement, Evelyn remained active in counseling and occasionally speaking or teaching a class. Her greatest joy was her Lord Jesus Christ, her family and friends, and being of service to His people.