Tharon Daniels, 79, of Nampa, Idaho, passed away 20 January 2020. He was a retired minister and former district superintendent.

Tharon H. Daniels was born in Nampa, Idaho, on 8 January 1941 at Samaritan Hospital. The hospital is now the fine arts building on the campus of Northwest Nazarene University.

Raised in a pastor’s home by M. Harold and Edith Daniels, Tharon went on to Pasadena Nazarene College, where he graduated with a degree in sociology.

He married his wife, Barbara, in December of 1963. He had stops in Kansas and Michigan before accepting his first pastorate at Gainesville University Avenue Church of the Nazarene in Gainsville, Florida, in 1969. He would go on to serve at Nazarene churches in Colorado and Oklahoma before taking the pastorate of Dallas First Church of the Nazarene from 1977 to 1979. In 1979, he returned to the Pacific Northwest and accepted the call to pastor Seattle Aurora Church of the Nazarene, where he served for nearly 20 years.

In 1998, he became the second generation of the Daniels family to become a district superintendent, accepting the call to lead the Northwest Oklahoma District, where he served for 10 years. His father, Harold, served as a district superintendent on the Illinois (1958 to 1964) and Colorado (1970 to 1985) districts and his uncle, Bert Daniels, served as district superintendent of the Washington Pacific District from 1963 to 1976.

In 2008, Tharon returned to the Pasadena area where he served on staff at Pasadena First Church of the Nazarene. In 2012 he began to serve at Sun City Church of the Nazarene as an interim pastor before becoming the full-time pastor until 2017. Most recently, he served part-time alongside his son, Scott Daniels, at Nampa College Church in Idaho.

He was preceded in death by his parents, M. Harold and Edith Daniels. He is survived by his wife, Barbara Daniels; a sister, Thirl Johnson; son, T. Scott Daniels; daughter, Christa L. Woodward, and many grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held on 1 February 2020 at 3 p.m. on the campus of Nampa College Church of the Nazarene.

Contributions can be made in his honor to the Daniels Family Ministry Scholarship at Northwest Nazarene University. To donate, click here.