Obituary: G. "Dan" Little, Class of 1954, Distinguished Alumnus 2009
11-20-2009
MADISON - Rev. George Daniel Little (Dan), age 79, died peacefully surrounded by family on Monday, November 16, 2009 at HospiceCare’s Don and Marilyn Anderson Center after a 19-month-long-battle with brain cancer.
Dan was born on December 18, 1929 in St. Louis, MO, the middle son of Rev. Henry Little and Agathe Daniel Little. With his brothers Henry and David, Dan grew up in Winnetka, IL where he graduated from New Trier H.S. in 1947, followed by his graduation from Princeton University in 1951 with a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy. In 1954 Dan received a graduate degree from McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago where he received training in urban ministry and also met and married fellow-student Joan McCafferty in 1953.
Following seminary and Dan’s ordination as a 5th-generation minister in the United Presbyterian Church USA (UPCUSA), Dan and Joan spent 2 years in London, England where Dan began his ministry among several dock workers’ parishes. In 1956, Dan and Joan moved to Pittsburgh, PA where Dan became the organizing pastor of a new inter-city church development, Friendship Community Church. In 1962 Dan assumed a position with the UPCUSA’s Board of National Missions in New York City. At that time, he and his family settled in Ridgewood, NJ, for the next 22 years. That same year he was arrested and jailed with other clergy participating in a civil rights march in Albany, GA. Dan’s national service to the UPCUSA culminated with his appointment in 1977 as the Executive Director of the General Assembly Mission Council, the church’s highest executive office.
Dan returned to parish ministry in 1984 when he was called to serve First Presbyterian Church in Ithaca, NY. At the conclusion of 9 years in Ithaca, Dan served in several significant interim positions as Interim President of McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago and as Pastor-in-Residence at Village Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village, KS and at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis, MN.
In 1999 Dan and Joan retired to Madison, WI. Dan spent the years before his brain cancer diagnosis in April of 2008, enjoying his children and grandchildren, serving his local Presbytery and the boards of 2 church-related organizations, working on a family history project, developing his cooking and painting skills and learning to play the piano. Prior to their deaths in 2007, Dan also cared for Joan over many years as she struggled with dementia, and for his brother Henry throughout his life-long battle with schizophrenia.
Dan’s appreciation of the richness of life and the diversity of all God’s children was palpable. Throughout his life he remained committed to social justice and to the struggle to secure civil rights for all. He also tirelessly sought new ways to think, new ways to discern what is possible and new ways to apprehend, to appreciate and to live into God’s truth. Through his relationships family members, friends, colleagues and parishioners, and through his participation in the arts, he taught those who knew and loved him important lessons about how to live well and how to die well.
Dan was preceded in death by his daughter Cynthia in 1993, his parents, his wife Joan and his brother Henry. He is survived by his children: Deborah (Bill) Cohn of Madison, WI, Alice (Jean) Grevet of Verrieres-le-Buisson, France, Daniel (Linda) Anderson-Little of St. Louis, MO, Benjamin Little of Phoenix, AZ; 7 grandchildren: Nathaniel and Abigail Cohn, Catherine and Jeremy Grevet, and Daniel, Jacob and Leah Anderson-Little; his brother and sister-in-law, David and Priscilla Little, and a host of extended family members, friends and loved ones.
A memorial service will be held at Covenant Presbyterian Church, 326 South Segoe Road, Madison, WI 53705 (608-233-6297) on Saturday, November 28, 2009 at 11:00 a.m. A light lunch will be served at the church following the service. The family requests memorial gifts in lieu of flowers to McCormick Theological Seminary or to any of the following Madison, WI organizations: Covenant Presbyterian Church, Oakwood Retirement Village, or HospiceCare, Inc.
