Westminster Presbyterian Church was reeling Wednesday with the news that its pastor, the Rev. Buddy Dee Monahan, had died after a Tuesday afternoon traffic accident at University Boulevard and Tanglewood Lane.
Annette McDermett, a former elder of the 4901 Maple Ave. church who was on the committee that hired Monahan in September 2015, said he “was like a brother to me.”
Noting that he had been hired as interim pastor and was installed permanently in January last year, McDermett said, “Buddy was compassionate, loving, just a great guy.
“He was a jokester with a really good sense of humor, and he gave sermons that made you sit up and listen. We were all better for knowing him. I’m heartbroken. It’s going to devastate the church. The people are all reeling. It doesn’t seem real.”
When her mother, Dorothy Holloman, died Jan. 31, “Buddy was here within minutes,” McDermett said.
“He loved her, and he missed her being in her pew. Hers was the last funeral he did. I make him out to be a saint, but he was probably as close as they come.”
McDermett said Westminster Presbyterian would hold a memorial service, but it would probably not be scheduled by the end of the day Wednesday. Sunset Funeral Home is handling local arrangements.
Monahans’ wife Dyanna is a medical education program assistant at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, according to the UNM website, and McDermett said their three children are students there.
Anne Mackey, the church’s clerk of session, said in a news release that it was “with heavy hearts” that church leaders announced Monahan’s death.
Mackey said the Rev. Jan DeVries of Dallas will officiate during the 11 a.m. Sunday Easter service.
“We were blessed by the Rev. Monahan’s spiritual leadership, his gift of message through storytelling and his work in the community with UTPB and ECISD students and the Odessa Ministerial Alliance,” she said.
Church member Jeanne Beard said Monahan “was one of the kindest, most Christian pastors I have ever been around.
“People liked him very much,” Beard said. “He was a special man. He got more young people into church with his outreach to the community. Nowadays, that’s pretty good.”
The Rev. Buddy Monahan of Westminster Presbyterian Church was killed in a Tuesday wreck near University Boulevard and Tanglewood Lane.
Odessa American File Photo
