William La Fond Whitlow

Rev. Dr. William La Fond Whitlow

William La Fond Whitlow was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota to George Lester Whitlow and Wanona Nadine (Ridgeway) Whitlow on October 20, 1932. He was the third child (Bill and his brother Bob were identical twins) of 6 Whitlow children.

In his early childhood, he lived on a ranch on the north side of Pike's Peak near Colorado Springs, Colorado. Surrounded by animals, Bill especially loved his horse, Major and his pet deer, Bambett. Growing up as an identical twin was full of love and antics! During High School years in Colorado Bill and Bob owned a horse-drawn buggy pulled by Major that would take the cheerleaders around the football field on game days. The family eventually moved to Springfield, Oregon where the twins graduated from Springfield High School in 1950.

Bill and Bob both felt the calling of God on their lives and enrolled in Eugene Bible College. The twins graduated in 1953. Thinking they would go on to the mission field, Bill and Bob became pilots and owned a Taylor Craft airplane. Then Bill met the love of his life, Donna Mae Magnuson. They married in 1953. Their first mission assignment was to the Open Bible Missions in Jamaica. Fifteen months later they were assigned to the island of Trinidad. In both islands Bill was responsible for the Bible Colleges. Along with preaching and teaching Bill always found a way to build and remodel. He was known to have a Bible in one hand and a hammer in the other. His travels took them all through Central America and one trip took him deep into the Amazon jungle.

In 1965, Bill and his family returned to the USA where he became pastor of Biltmore Bible Church in Phoenix, Arizona. During the early years of his ministry in Phoenix, Bill supplemented his income by selling insurance for twelve years, where he excelled and was second in the nation in policy sales. Bill had a vision to create a four-year Bible College for third world nations in manuscript form that could be translated into their local languages and would be given free of charge. Bill and Donna traveled all over the world visiting various independent ministries. The Bible College continues to this day and has been translated into several languages. Bill retired in 2008 after completing four doctorate degrees. He went on to his Heavenly reward on October 12, 2017.

Bill is survived by his wife, Donna Mae (Magnuson) Whitlow, his wife of 64 years; three children, Debra D. (Whitlow) Reasy (Chuck) of Scottsdale, Arizona, Cathleen D. (Whitlow) Corallo (Jeffrey) of Phoenix, Arizona and Lisa M. (Whitlow) Dummel (David) of Phoenix, Arizona; two siblings, sister, Barbara J. (Whitlow) Skelton of Avondale, Arizona and brother Brian J. Whitlow, Eugene Oregon; four grandchildren, Dustin Corallo, Jared Reasy (Jordan), Whitney Reasy Fisher (Justin) and Alexander Corallo (Laurie) of Phoenix, Arizona. He is also survived by his five great grandchildren, Enoch Reasy, King Reasy, Earnest Reasy, Magnuson Ford Reasy and Jacqueline Fisher.

He was preceded in death by his parents and two sisters, Bette Miller, Bonita Ball and his twin brother Robert Whitlow.

Bill is remembered for his humor, love for his family, compassion for people from all over the world and most of all, his dedication to God, whom he served.