Rev. Donald Ervin Wrigley was born on August 18, 1928 in Oakland, Maine to G. Barton and Helen (Fuller) Wrigley. He was the middle child between sisters Dorothy Thomas and Ruth Raymond Mullins. His early work included family farm chores, delivering bakery goods, painting telephone wires and jigging logs for BFD, a manufacturer of wooden ice cream sticks. One evening while working for BFD, he was seriously endangered momentarily and heard a voice say, “I have saved you for the ministry.” He enrolled in the New England School of Theology (NEST) and was ordained in 1949, four days after marrying fellow NEST student, Marian Alice Horne. For more than 50 years they ministered together in Advent Christian churches in Bath, ME; Whitman, MA; Providence, RI; Bellingham, WA; Hartford, CT; Waterville, ME; Clovis, NM; Walterboro, SC; Four Oaks, NC and Garner, NC. Don also served the AC denomination as Director of Home Missions, Interim Executive Vice President and President. Don and Marian moved to ACV in 2002 where he continued to minister as Sunday School teacher to adults and Village Church Elder, preaching when called upon, ministering one-to-one, writing devotionals for Maranatha and leading prayer meeting.
Don peacefully fell asleep in Christ on July 18, 2024 at the Good Samaritan Center in Advent Christian Village. He was predeceased by daughter, Sarah Lynne (1957); his wife of 68 years, Marian (2018) a bonus great grandson, Patrick Bergeron (2021) and great-great-granddaughter, Aurora Rose Hitchcock (2023). He is survived by daughter, Susan A. Darby and son, Rev. Donald B. (Penny) Wrigley; grandchildren, Jennifer (Erick) Coombs, Cindy (Michael) Hitchcock, Joe (Stephanie) Searles, Stephen (Jamie) Wrigley and David (Lisa) Wrigley; seventeen great-grandchildren, two great-great-grandchildren, an aunt, Lillian Shuman, two nieces, many cousins and numerous friends. Don loved all of his family, prayed for each of them daily and lived his life according to Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths.”
