Spouse: Ruby Kephart
Marriage: May 25, 1937

Dr. Elwood Sanner, a former religion professor at Northwest Nazarene College, died Wednesday at Nampa Care Center. He was 82. Ralph Neil, also a religion professor at the college, remembers working as a teaching assistant for Sanner in the late 1950s. Neil said that NNC and its students were Sanner's life. "He was a mentor and teacher and really trained two or three generations of ministers," Neil said. "He was an excellent scholar and a Godly man. He was a person who loved working with college-age students." Sanner joined the NNC faculty in 1950 as a professor of religion. From 1963 to 1982 he was chairman of the Division of Philosophy and Religion. He retired in 1985. "He was very passionate about theology and even after his retirement we continued to hold conversations about papers we'd both written," Neil said. Sanner was born in 1915 in Kirk, Colo. His father was a Nazarene pastor. The family moved to Nampa in 1922 so he could teach Latin and math at NNC. Sanner's mother was an elementary teacher. Sanner was the oldest of five children." I remember him telling us about a childhood vacation trip he took with his family in the Sawtooth Mountains," said Gaymon Bennett, Sanner's son-in-law and an NNC English professor. "One day he said he caught 40 trout. The fishing was better in those days." Sanner attended school at Pasadena Nazarene College and served as student body president his senior year. He traveled in summer singing groups as a bass; he also played trombone. He was a member of the Pasadena College debate squad and once debated Richard Nixon. "The family recollection is that he won." Bennett said. Sanner married Ruby Kephart on May 25, 1937, a "woman he really set his cap for." Bennett said. The couple moved to California and pastored churches during World War II in Chico and San Francisco. Sanner began teaching at NNC in 1950 and was a mentor, teacher and counselor for 35 years, Bennett said. NNC President Richard Hagood said, "Dr. Sanner was one of the major historical figures at NNC during the past century. He molded and shaped the character of the institution as he also molded and shaped the character of NNC students." Sanner was a writer for the Church of the Nazarene. He wrote a volume about the gospel of Mark for the Beacon Bible Expositions series, edited Exploring Christian Education and was a writer for the Beacon Bible Commentary series. He also contributed to the books Exploring our Christian Faith and Beacon dictionary of Theology.

Sanner and his wife had two daughters, Evelyn and Patricia. Patricia is married to Rodney Huling of Seattle. Bennett is a professor and the director of the NNC Study Skills Center.

IDAHO PRESS-TRIBUNE, Saturday, December 13, 1997 — 4A

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Elwood Sanner spent his growing-up years in Nampa where his father was a professor and administrator at NNC. He enrolled at Pasadena College at age 15 and was mentored by both H. Orton Wiley and Olive Winchester.

After pastoring for 13 years in California, Sanner completed coursework for a doctorate at Pacific School of Religion and then joined NNC's faculty in 1950. He taught Bible, theology and religious education for 35 years and continued to teach part time after retirement. His love of teaching never diminished; he loved his students and they him. Each morning he could not wait to get to class. He declined several offers to teach at Nazarene Theological Seminary believing his influence would be greater at NNC.

Sanner was awarded NNC's "Teacher of the Decade" accolade for the 1950s, in 1961 he was presented an honorary doctorate by Pasadena College, his alma mater, in 1993 he received the Quadrennial Citation of Merit and Medallion by the general Church of the Nazarene, and, in 1997 he was again honored by NNC with a Doctor of Divinity degree—all were deeply meaningful to him.