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Friends and family celebrate the life of Bishop Glen Neal at Golden Eagle Arena
Mourners were treated to anything but a somber event as praise music filled the arena and speakers celebrated the life of Neal for about two hours.
Family members and sons Lorenzo Neal and Edward Neal, a Lemoore City Councilmember, also spoke about their father. Music was provided by the Lily of the Valley Church Praise Team and the church Mass Choir.
Neal, a longtime fixture and well-respected citizen of Lemoore, passed away Friday, June 3 surrounded by members of his family. Bishop Neal, the Pastor of Lemoore’s Lily of the Valley Church, was born on December 13, 1944 in Ennis, Texas and later, with his family, migrated to Lemoore.
Neal was an outstanding football player and when he moved to Lemoore he joined the high school football team and thanks to the rigor of his daily chores at home, Glen basically dominated the sport without much effort.
Influenced by his Baptist upbringing, Glen took a vocation in the ministry of the church and became a Deacon at the Lily of the Valley Church which at that time was under the direction of the late Bishop Israel Owens.
Even though he was young, Glen was driven to move further in the work for God. As the years progressed Glen became a minister and then the Pastor of the Lily of the Valley Church.
While involved in church activities, Glen was blessed to meet Darlene Doss who was to become his wife and helper in the ministry. Glen and Darlene exchanged vows and married June 18, 1966.
They were soon blessed with six beautiful children: Glenda, Edward, Lorenzo, Denise, Esther, and Twila, who were all counted on for church attendance.
In 1976 Lily of the Valley Church burned to the ground, leaving nothing but Glen’s passion to serve God. Glen and a 175-man working crew which was entirely made up of church members, rallied. They grabbed hammers and nails to do what they could in building a new church.
Glen was a longtime advocate of helping people who worked to save souls, feed the homeless, help the needy, and always put God first and loved his family dearly.
In 2006, Bishop Neal was nominated and inducted into the Lemoore High School Hall of Fame for his undying devotion to his church, his family and his community.
