Advertisement

Reverend is named 2015 Shining Star

The Rev. Dr. Gary Demarest will be honored this month by the La Cañada Presbyterian Church’s Parent Education Program as its 2015 Shining Star. The award will be presented during an annual gala held Feb. 27 at Noor in Pasadena.

Demarest has taken leadership roles throughout his life. He served as pastor of the local church from 1965 through 1988, during which he launched the parent education program. He was elected to two terms on the La Cañada school board, serving twice as its president. He is a former La Cañadan of the Year and National Presbyterian Church Preacher of the Year. The Family Life center at La Cañada Presbyterian is named for him.

Demarest is active in Discover the World, a nonprofit organization that cares for Kenyan children who have been orphaned by the world’s AIDS crisis.

“After considering several candidates, we decided Gary Demarest perfectly embodied the definition of our annual Shining Star,” said LCPC Parent Education Director Anne Bierling. “Over his impressive ministry, Gary has had a sincere compassion for families from La Cañada to Africa — and he has touched them with the profound love of Jesus — both through his powerful preaching and his sincere delight in their well being.”

A native of Santa Monica, Demarest was raised in Manhattan Beach. Following his high school graduation he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and was sent to the V-12 Officer Training Program at University of Redlands, then to UC Berkeley. He transferred to the USMC Recruit Depot in San Diego, serving as a rifle instructor and an assistant drill instructor. After receiving an honorable discharge from the service in 1946, he returned to Berkeley and earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. He took a job with the city of Pasadena before enrolling in the first class of Fuller Theological Seminary, from which he graduated in 1950. First ordained in the Baptist Church, he transferred his ordination to the Presbyterian Church in 1952.

He and Marily Evans were married in 1959 in the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood. They moved to Hamburg, N.Y., in 1960, where he served as pastor of the Hamburg Presbyterian Church. He was then called to the pastorate of the La Cañada Presbyterian.

Demarest accepted the call to serve as the director of evangelism for the Presbyterian Church General Assembly in 1988, until his formal retirement in 1993. He has since served as interim pastor to six churches in Southern California. In 2001, he and Marily moved to Monte Vista Grove Homes in Pasadena. They are the parents of four adult children and have 13 grandchildren.

Gala tickets to honor Demarest can be purchased at lcpcparentedgala.afrogs.org or by calling Sandy Ravana at (818) 790-6708, Ext. 205. Auction items can be donated by sending an email to wendyfunkhouser@gmail.com.

Advertisement