It is with sadness that we announce the passing of Larry Milliken on Friday, January 3. He was a beloved husband, father, and grandfather, as well as a long-term pastor with a tremendous heart for people and a lifelong commitment to God’s service. Larry began his ministry in Medicine Hat, Alberta in 1961, and then also pastored in Windsor, Hamilton, and Willowdale, Ontario, as well as Hinsdale, Illinois. In 1988 he became the Church Ministries/Youth Director of the Minnesota Conference and ended his pastoral ministry in the North Platte district in Nebraska and as a volunteer pastor back at Willowdale after retirement.
One of the highlights of his ministry was doing short-term evangelistic trips to Bulgaria, Romania, India, Nepal, and the Philippines. He loved ministering to others by giving Bible studies (both in person and via Zoom), leading out in prayer meetings, and spending time as a volunteer hospital chaplain before COVID-19. After battling Parkinson’s Disease, and kidney and liver issues for several years, Larry was diagnosed with liver cancer in late November which we later discovered had also spread to his lung. His courage remained strong, but his body was rapidly breaking down. He was admitted to ICU with pneumonia on December 29 and died very peacefully and painlessly on in-patient hospice with his beloved wife Joyce and his daughters with him. He would have had his 87th birthday on February 21.
Friends and family are invited to a Celebration of Life service to honor him at 4:00 pm ET at the Calhoun Seventh-day Adventist Church at 1411 Rome Rd SW in Calhoun, Georgia 30701 on February 22, 2025. The service will also be live-streamed. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Motorcycles for India fund (via the Calhoun Adventist Church) that provides much-needed basic transportation for pastors in India. As the family prepares for the Celebration of Life, if you would like to share a special memory or picture with Larry, please send them to one of his daughters. Larry is already immensely missed, and we eagerly look forward to the great reunion day when Christ returns and awakens him from this little sleep.