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The Rev. Frederick Lyman Provan
June 26, 1881 –August 29, 1937
REV. F. L. PROVAN DIED
IN HOSPITAL AT CEDAR RAPIDS
Funeral Services Were Held Tuesday;
Burial at Leroy, Iowa

The Rev. Frederick Lyman Provan of Wyoming died at St. Luke’s hospital in Cedar Rapids Sunday afternoon following an illness of a few days. Funeral services were held in the Presbyterian church in Wyoming Tuesday, conducted by the Rev. W. J. Nicholas, pastor of the church, assisted by the Rev. August Cramer, the Rev. Dr. W. M. Evans and the Rev. Dr. S. R. Ferguson, all of Cedar Rapids.
The remains were taken to LeRoy, Iowa, immediately after the services, where burial took place, following services, Wednesday.
The Rev. Provan was born in Nova Scotia, Canada on June 26, 1881, and was 56 years of age at the time of his death. He was a graduate of the high school at Beverly, Massachusetts, after which he attended Brown University at Providence, Rhode Island. Later he entered the Omaha Theological seminary, from which he graduated in 1919. He served churches in the following places, all in Iowa; West Side, Derby, LeRoy, New London, Amber, Antioch and Onslow.
In 1907 he was united in marriage to Almena Nadine McDermot, who died in 1917. To this marriage four children, Ruth, Emily, John and Marjorie, were born. On June 8, 1923, he married Cora E. Slagg, who with the children, survive.
Mr. and Mrs. Provan moved to Wyoming last year.
He endeared himself to the citizens of the town during his brief stay in their midst. Hardships were his to bear, no one doubted that. Here he was, a man eager and willing to work at his chosen profession, and not able to do so. But never did he let his friends know how irksome was his idleness – he wore his genial, friendly, cheering smile always and spoke happy words while in his heart he carried his load alone.
Mr. Provan was an exceptional preacher – he was more. He had that kindly, understanding spirit that men seek to find in their fellow men when grief and care weigh heavily. He has preached many sermons from which listeners would come home to ponder upon the better ways of life and the roads of destiny. In Wyoming he preached in a different manner – he preached most eloquently and silently the sermon of his life, the sermon of taking the difficulties and the bitter hardships of life with a smile. The sermon of watching the box at the post-office at mail-time and of bearing disappointment with a cheery greeting and a smile.
We do not know if Mr. Provan had enemies. We knew him rather well and he spoke only of those who were his friends, happy that they were all doing well. His world was too big, his character was too grand, for him to moil with the causes of unhappiness. He ever sought, and generally saw, the brighter side of things.
“When I get back to work…” he often said that. And every morning he was at the post office early, waiting for the letter that, if it was destined to come, came too late – a letter from some church, telling him to come and be its pastor.
The story of the Rev. Provan is the story of a great spirit. A spirit that cannot die because it is a bit of the infinite, because it is something of that great presence that exists forever. Death, my friends, this time picked a man.

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Source: Wyoming Journal, Wyoming, Iowa, 26 August, 1937

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Last updated on Friday, 16-Apr-2021 16:55:59 MST