William H. Cohea Jr.

Bill was a Presbyterian minister and human-rights activist who in later years founded Columcille Megalith Park, the 17-acre Celtic-inspired outdoor sanctuary that rests in the shadow of Blue Mountain.

A native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Bill was the son of Lillian Amanda and William H. Cohea Sr. He served in the Navy in the Second World War as a pharmacist's mate, completing his tour at Great Lakes Naval Hospital after the conflict. It was there that Bill was inspired to enter the ministry.

Bill attended Northwestern University and Princeton Seminary on the GI Bill, earning a Master of Divinity. The first churches he was called to pastor were in Cedar Rapids and Pittsburgh. Accompanying him on this journey was his wife, Mary Wimberley, whom he married in 1954; they would eventually have four children together.

While serving in Pittsburgh, Bill became the first director of the Pittsburgh Experiment, a Christian non-denominational ministry providing spiritual resources to business, professional and working people.

In 1960 Bill moved to Illinois, where he became pastor of Winnetka Presbyterian, a church located in a far-northern suburb of Chicago. As he had in Pittsburgh, Bill prioritized social ministry, and to this end founded the Chicago Business Industrial Project. The goal was to enlist corporate executives in understanding and responding to the needs of inner-city neighborhoods.

When this project ended in 1972, Bill became pastor of Lakeview Presbyterian Church near Wrigley Field in Chicago. Within this mission-centered church, Bill spearheaded the development of a senior lunch program. He also founded Lakeview Academy, an alternative high school for disadvantaged students. When it closed in 2015, Lakeview Academy was the longest-running school of its kind in the city.

Bill relocated to New York City in 1974 to work as United Nations and White House correspondent for IDOC International and Inter Press Agency, serving both entities as a voice for the concerns of Third World countries.

In 1975 Bill purchased a house and 20 acres from the Kirkridge Retreat Center in Northeast Pennsylvania and relocated there. He became pastor of the Church of the Mountain in Delaware Water Gap. While Bill was there, the church opened a hostel for Appalachian Trail hikers which is still in operation today. Bill also was a founding co-creator of the Jazz Mass, in collaboration with local jazz artists. Forty years later, the Jazz Mass remains a featured performance at the annual Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts.

In 1977, while visiting the island of Iona off the southwestern coast of Scotland, Bill had a vision in kindred spirit with the ancient energies of this place, which had been a beacon of culture, faith, and hope for millennia. That experience was Bill’s inspiration for the unfolding of his true gift to generations here and now, and to come: Columcille Megalith Park.

Back in Pennsylvania, in 1978 Bill took the name of the Iona abbey's founder and formed Columcille, a not-for-profit charitable organization. Over the next 40 years, Bill and many volunteers raised the St. Columba Chapel and St. Oran Bell Tower and set more than 80 arrangements of megaliths, including the Circle of Stones, the dolmen Thor's Gate, the Glen of the Guardians, the Chamber, and the 30-foot menhir named Manannan.

In 1997, the park’s 17 acres were placed under easement with the Heritage Conservancy, and in 2000, Bill and Columcille co-founder, Fred Lindkvist, deeded the park to the Company of Columcille, Inc. Today, this beautiful place thrives and survives, in the spirit of Iona and Bill Cohea: It is a place where "the veil is thin"—where time and stone and spirit all come to dance.

Bill was predeceased by his partner, Fred Lindkvist; son, Timm Cohea; and nephew, John David Mikesell. He is survived by three children: William Cohea III, David Cohea and Molly Tims; his sister, Lucille Mikesell; niece, Lillie Mikesell; his former wife, Mary Cohea; and grandchildren, Kathy Tims, Mary Beth Tims and Sarah Tims.

Bill’s ashes will be placed, as he has designated, in a private family ceremony. The greater Columcille community will be invited to celebrate Bill’s life at 2 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26 at Columcille Megalith Park, Bangor.

Your condolences may be posted on Columcille Megalith Park’s Facebook page, or sent to Columcille’s email: [email protected] or through ”Share a Memory” at dignitymemorial.com/obituaries.

Memorial contributions in Bill’s name may be made to: Columcille Inc., 2155 Fox Gap Road, Bangor PA 18013.

—Written by David Cohea