On May 28th at 7:25PM
in his home surrounded by his wife and son from Pancreatic Cancer after many years of declining health. He was 76 years old.
Pastor Thrun, husband to my mother Mary Ann, had been my boyhood pastor throughout all of my early life. He and my mother had moved to Sarasota, Florida after they were married and had 25 years of a very happy marriage.
Pastor leaves a tremendous legacy of bringing literally thousands of people to Christ, and also helped countless others through their drug and alcohol addictions.
Mom & Carl had one of those rare relationships where they were truly soulmates. Mom took care of Carl throughout years of illness, without a complaint or regret. Carl trusted my Mom like no other and loved her dearly.
Although his death brings a merciful end to his suffering, it leaves a large hole in my Mom's life that over time she will fill. But as my Mom reminds me they have wonderful friends down in Florida that will look out for her on a daily basis and keep her close in their lives.
During the last week of his life, Carl's son Mark and myself had come down to his bedside as we knew the end was at hand. We wanted to show our respect to Carl and help my Mom get through this saddest of life events. After his death, all of his and my Mom's children came down to honor Carl and to help Mom through the funeral. We posed below for a picture which was the first time we had all gotten together in almost 25 years.
Top Row: Rick Johnson, Julie & Tom Thrun, Deborah Thrun, Mark Thrun & Alvin Ferrer, and Laurie Gregorio
Lower Row: Nancy Perryman, Mom and Jean Gallo
The Funeral service was held the Monday following his death and was officiated by Pastor Bill Stehr. He did an absolutely wonderful job and in his sermon brought immense comfort to my Mom.
Carl's daughter Deb, read one of the hundereds of sermons that Carl had delivered over the years and it was powerful - and comforting- hearing the words of Pastor at his own funeral.