George David Almquist was born January 22, 1935, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of Theodore J. and Elsie E. Almquist. He attended Cambridge High School (Minnesota) and the University of Minnesota. He graduated from St. Cloud State University (Minnesota) and received his M. Div. degree from St. Paul School of Theology (Kansas City, Missouri). He married Mavis Verlene Coil on August 29, 1959; their children were Jane Marie (born 1964) and David Wayne (born 1967). Rev. Almquist served churches in Minnesota before transferring to the Kansas West Conference, where he was appointed to Reading and Miller (1964-1965) and Yates Center and Toronto (1965-1969). He served Fredonia and Fall River in 1969 and was instrumental in creating the Twin Valley United Methodist parish. He was appointed superintendent of parish development for Kansas in 1976; during the first year of his assignment, he also served as pastor at Overbrook UMC. He later relocated to Salina when the parish development office moved there. Rev. Almquist served as a consultant for the national division of the Town and Country Ministries Department. He also edited the Resource Notebook for Cooperative Parish Development (published posthumously). Shock and sorrow echoed throughout the UMC community when Rev. Almquist was murdered on September 14, 1978, at the age of 43. At the time of his death he had been attending the Kansas West Conference annual meeting in Wichita. His bishop, Bishop Ernest T. Dixon, later praised Rev. Almquist’s expertise in the areas of cooperative parish work and churches with small memberships. Rev. Almquist’s funeral was held at the University UMC in Salina. He was laid to rest in the Fridsborg Cemetery in Anoka County, Minnesota.

Note written by Sarah St. John