Obee, Ernest Isaac

Ernest Isaac Obee (1874-1952), Methodist Protestant Church missionary and minister, was born at Whitehouse, Ohio on October 15, 1874. Obee attended Adrian College and upon graduation in 1904 was quickly accepted as a missionary to Japan with support by the Christian Endeavor Society. Just before his missionary appointment he married Lotta Shields in August. Eventually they gave birth to five children. Together they spent twenty-four years in Japan before returning to the Ohio Annual Conference to pastor various local churches.

While in Japan Obee's duties included President of the Nagoya Boys Middle School, Mission Treasurer and District Missionary. Under his administration the Boy's School would eventually enroll over one-thousand students. Upon returning to the United States in 1928 he would become the pastor of the following Methodist Protestant congregations: Lewistown, Arlington, Rush Creek and Mount Cory. By 1940, the annual conference granted him superannuated status (retirement) but Obee continued to be a short-term supple pastor to various local churches when needed. Many of these churches were considered to be home mission charges.

Unfortunately, Ernest and Lotta were not able to enjoy their retirement together because of her untimely death in 1940. Two years later Obee married Paula Smelser who would outlive him. Obee died in Lima, Ohio, on March 20, 1952. His funeral took place at the Allentown Church on April 2 and subsequent burial was at the Whitehouse cemetery.