The Rev. Lloyd D. Tennies, 78, of Grove City died Thursday afternoon at the Grove City Medical Center after an extended illness.

Born Oct. 28, 1929, in Napoli, N.Y., he was the son of DeForest U. and Amanda Waggoner Tennies.

Rev. Tennies retired after 44 years as a pastor in the United Methodist Church. He served at several churches in rural areas. He was a member of the Harrisville United Methodist Church.

He was a 1947 graduate of Randolph Central High School; a 1960 graduate of the State University of New York at Fredonia, where he received a bachelor of science degree in elementary education; and a 1963 graduate of Methodist Theological School in Ohio.

He was a member of the Kappa Delta Pi Honor Society for teachers and was a volunteer with various fire departments.

A member of the Army from 1948 to 1952, he belonged to the Moniteau Ceremonial Squad.

Surviving are his wife, Blanche Reedy Deal of Grove City, whom he married Nov. 20, 1999; three children, Jay Tennies and his wife, Angie, of Elder, Pa., Joy Walsh and her husband, Joseph, of Butler and Jill McDeavitt and her husband, Mark, of Greybull, N.Y; and three stepchildren, David Deal of Boyers, and Denise Keiser and her husband, William, and Dennis Deal, all of Grove City.

Also surviving are two sisters, Mary Yankovich and her husband, Jerry, of Lakeland, Fla., and Ella Broscious of Grottoes, Va.; four brothers, Glenn Tennies and his wife, Maryanne, of Lodi, Calif., John Tennies and his wife, Joyce, of Shenandoah, Va., Newton Tennies and his wife, Marcia, of Dalzell, S.C., and DeForest Tennies and his wife, Norma, of East Randolph, N.Y.; eight grandchildren; six step-grandchildren; and several step-great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his first wife, Phyllis Wayland, whom he married in 1954 and who died in 1999; a sister, Nellie Ruth Bennick, and a brother, Phillip Tennies.

<B>TENNIES — </B>Friends of the Rev. Lloyd D. Tennies, who died Thursday, Dec. 20, 2007, will be received from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday at <B>Cunningham Funeral Home</B>, 306 Bessemer Ave., Grove City. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at the funeral home, officiated by the Rev. William Hastings of the Harrisville United Methodist Church and the Rev. Willard Morse, visitation pastor of the Grace United Methodist Church in Grove City. Burial will follow in Carrier Cemetery in Summerville.In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the American Heart Association or the American Lung Association.