Sherwood Wirt's obit
OBITUARY
Sherwood Wirt; journalist chronicled work of evangelist Billy Graham
By Blanca Gonzalez
STAFF WRITER
November 19, 2008, San Diego Union
Sherwood Wirt started out as a journalist, served a stint as an Air Force chaplain and was a minister at a Presbyterian church when he got the chance to combine his passions for writing and ministry to work for Billy Graham.
Dr. Wirt wrote a book about Graham's 1958 seven-week revival in the Bay Area, “Crusade at the Golden Gate.” Graham was so impressed that he invited Dr. Wirt to be the editor of a magazine the evangelist was starting.
So began Dr. Wirt's nearly 20-year association with Graham, which included traveling throughout the world, chronicling scores of Graham crusades.
Dr. Wirt, a prolific author, founded the San Diego County Christian Writers Guild in 1977, shortly after retiring to Poway.
Dr. Wirt died of natural causes Nov. 8 at his home in the Seattle suburb of Issaquah, where he had moved in 2001. He was 97.
Dr. Wirt, known as “Woody” to friends and colleagues, started writing groups around the world. “His life and work has had an impact on hundreds of writers in San Diego County and all over the world,” friend Vicki Hesterman said. “He was a mentor to me during my career as a writer and editor.”
Fellow guild members said Dr. Wirt was known for his encouragement and inspiration. “Joy just emanated from him,” Hesterman said.
He was always generous with his time and advice, said his wife, Ruth. “Some writer would call him with a question, and he'd stay on the phone for an hour if that's what it took,” she said.
Dr. Wirt, the son of a minister, went into journalism out of college and worked for several newspapers, including the San Francisco Examinerand a small Alaska paper. He entered the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley in 1940, the same year he married his first wife, Winnie.
In a 1985 interview with the San Diego Tribune,he said he had been a somewhat indifferent Christian for a time. He recalled that “if the snow was good, I'd always skip church and go skiing,” but his two minister brothers talked him into going to a seminary and he decided he wanted to do something more useful.
He was serving as pastor of a Presbyterian church in Oakland when he wrote the book about Graham's San Francisco crusade, which led to the magazine editor job offer. “I didn't know beans about magazine publishing, but I knew how to write, and that's what he was interested in,” Dr. Wirt said in the 1985 interview.
Sherwood Eliot Wirt was born March 12, 1911, in Oakland, the youngest of five siblings. He grew up in Berkeley and graduated from the University of California Berkeley in 1932. He served in the Army Air Forces Chaplain Corps in the 1940s and later earned doctorate degrees in psychology and theology from New College, University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
After moving to Poway, Dr. Wirt was active with the San Diego Evangelical Association and wrote several books with religious themes.
He was preceded in death by his wife of more than 40 years in the mid-1980s. He married the former Ruth Love in 1987.
He came up with the idea of a multidenominational Christian gathering called “Jesus 2000” to celebrate the 2,000th anniversary of Jesus' birth. At age 89, Dr. Wirt led the effort, which involved more than 30 churches. It was held in July 2000 at the Mt. Carmel High School stadium in Rancho Peñasquitos.
Besides his wife, Dr. Wirt is survived by a son, Alex of Washington; and two grandchildren.
Services are scheduled for 2 p.m. Dec. 5 at Westminster Chapel in Bellevue, Wash.
Blanca Gonzalez: (760) 737-7576; [email protected]