Obituary for Retired Missionary to the Belgian Congo, Donald S. Deer - January 5, 2013

The Reverend Dr. Donald Spencer Deer, born October 24, 1929, at home in Terre Haute, Indiana, died at Pilgrim Place in Claremont, California, early on the morning of January 5th, 2013, just three months and a day after the death of his dearly beloved wife of 57 years, Barbara.

Donald was the third and youngest child of Roy Burton Deer and Emilie Spencer Deer. He adored his bubbly, creative mother and revered his upright father, whose integrity and example Donald cited and strove to follow to the end of his 83 years. The family moved from Indiana to Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, where Donald's father was first an American Baptist pastor and later an executive in the statewide American Baptist organizations.

At the age of 11, Donald was baptized by his father in Narberth, Pennsylvania; the church had always been and continued to be the center of the family’s activities. At about the same age, with money he had saved from his allowance for two years, he paid half the cost of a full-sized 'cello, later named Bessie, then already over 100 years old, which was to stay with him until he died. In high school, he was inspired by a deeply committed French teacher to love and study the French language. Donald first thought he would be a French teacher himself, and then seriously considered a life as a professional cellist. He finally dedicated himself to church work, but Donald also kept up his commitment to the 'cello and his love of languages, including French, all his life.

Donald planned to become a minister and went to Colgate Rochester Divinity School (CRDS), but while there he became aware of the possibilities of mission work and felt called to become a missionary.

After graduation from CRDS in 1955, he married Barbara Sloat, and they were appointed missionaries by the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society (ABFMS) to what was then the Belgian Congo. In Congo, he taught school, learned Kikongo and Kituba, helped to organize the teaching of Kituba to other missionaries, worked on Bible translation, and taught New Testament at the seminary level.

One of the great professional achievements of Donald's life was the translation of the New Testament into Kituba, on which he worked with a team of Congolese and American translators for ten years. When that translation, called Kuwakana ya mpa, was finished in 1971, Donald took his family to France, for two years, so that he could earn a doctorate in New Testament in Strasbourg. They returned to Congo in 1973, where Donald was then a New Testament professor for many years. He was committed to providing access to readable and accurate translations of the Bible and contributed to La Bonne Nouvelle en français courant and to the Good News Bible with comments and edits over the decades, and advocated for and helped to distribute the Good News Bible until the end of his life. A long-running project on How We Got the Bible (formation, canon, text, and versions) never made it into book form but after presenting it as a workshop in churches across the United States, Donald made it available as a 100-page outline that laypeople have found useful. In recent years he was proud to translate volume two of a commentary series on the Gospel of Luke by New Testament scholar François Bovon, published by Fortress Press.

Donald was known for his punctiliousness and punctuality, his height, his humor, his 'cello and lusty bass voice, and his languages. Liberal in his politics and his theology and unbending on points of principle, he sometimes found himself at odds with his colleagues, and yet found lasting connections with many missionary, seminary, and translation colleagues, with musicians from all walks of life with whom he played chamber music, and with treasured former students. After leaving Congo, Donald taught New Testament briefly at the American Baptist Seminary of the West in Berkeley, California, and then at Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia.

He retired to Pilgrim Place with Barbara, where for years, with her help, he was able to continue writing, editing, and translating; studying the New Testament; playing the 'cello in private and public; functioning as an unofficial computer consultant for neighbors; making jokes and cracking puns; enjoying connections with old and new friends; and delighting in communication with friends and family around the world. In later years Donald’s Parkinson's disease greatly affected his speech, sadly limiting his ability to connect with people the way he wanted to. He leaned heavily on Barbara to interpret for him. After Barbara's death in October 2012, he gradually became weaker, missing her love and devoted help, and finally succumbed to pneumonia and Parkinson's disease. Donald strove to improve himself and live up to his ideals and principles every day of his life, but he always rested in his faith in his loving and forgiving God.

Written by Cathy Holmes, 2013-02-07

Source: International Ministries