The Rev. Fred Berkaw
October 9, 1943 – June 26, 2019
Please keep the family and loved ones of the Rev. Bergen Frederic (Fred) Berkaw, Jr. in your prayers. Fred, a long-time member, and later deacon, at St. Paul’s Church in Summerville, died June 26, 2019, following a brief illness.
“Fred had a passion for social justice issues and played a leading role in race reconciliation in Summerville,” said the Rev. Mike Lumpkin (retired), former Rector of St. Paul’s. “He loved the Lord Jesus and loved his church.” In an effort to address underlying issues of race and class, Fred established a Reading Camp at St. Paul’s, which helped low-income students improve their reading skills while building their self-esteem and confidence.
Fred, and his loving wife, Mary, would have been married 49 years this coming October.
Following a move to Virginia, Fred transferred to the Anglican Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic. Prior to his death, he was serving as a deacon in two churches, Ebenezer Lutheran Church in Marion, VA and The Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Roanoke Virginia.
Letters of condolence may be sent to Mary at 1414 Mitchell Valley Dr., Marion, VA 24354.
The funeral will be held at 3 p.m. on Wed. July 3 at Ebenezer Lutheran Church. The visitation will be in the chapel prior to the funeral from 2-3 p.m. In lieu of flowers the family asks that memorials be given to the two churches listed above.
Read the obituary.
I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord.
Whoever believes in me,
though he die, yet shall he live,
and everyone who lives and believes in me
shall never die.
For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
yet in my flesh I shall see God,
whom I shall see for myself,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
For none of us lives to himself,
and none of us dies to himself.
For if we live, we live to the Lord,
and if we die, we die to the Lord.
So then, whether we live or whether we die,
we are the Lord’s.
From the Book of Common Prayer, 2019, Burial of the Dead
