Remembering Mrs. June Delnay, 1924-2024
February 13, 2024
Mrs. June (Stewart) Delnay, widow of Dr. Robert Delnay and former Faith employee, passed away on February 7, 2024. She was 99 years old.
The Delnays began serving at Faith in 1984. Mrs. Delnay was head librarian and assistant professor of English. She was promoted to associate professor in June 1986. Former students recall Mrs. Delnay’s demand for excellence, a standard that stemmed from her desire that students maximize their potential for God’s glory. “Mrs. Delnay became one of my favorite teachers,” Dr. Ken Rathbun noted. “She was intimidating but also very kind. When I was a college freshman, she confronted me about my work in English class. She was so distressed by the fact that I wasn’t achieving my potential. It really struck me that she was more concerned about my effort than I was. I thought about that, and it motivated me tremendously.”
Like her husband, June enjoyed the rigors of study, a fact attested to by her earning degrees at four institutions as well as many credits as a nondegree-seeking student. She earned a diploma from Moody Bible Institute, a bachelor’s degree from Columbia Bible College (now Columbia International University), and master’s degrees from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro and Faith Baptist Theological Seminary.
The Delnays were married April 6, 1951, and served together in various ministries for nearly seven decades. From 1957 to 1959, they served as missionaries in Haiti. A few years later, they began a long career serving students in various colleges and seminaries within conservative fundamentalism. Mrs. Delnay was librarian at Central Baptist Theological Seminary of Minneapolis (1962-1966); librarian (1966-1967, 1980-1982) and instructor of English (1980-1982) at Denver Baptist Bible College; dean of women (1971-1978) and instructor of English (1979-1980) at Piedmont Bible College (now Carolina University); catalog librarian at Baptist Bible College (now Clarks Summit University, 1982-1984), librarian, assistant, and associate professor of English at Faith Baptist Bible College (1984-1990, 1995-1997).
The Delnays moved to Florida in 1997 when Dr. Delnay took a faculty position in the Bible department at Clearwater Christian College. He taught there into his eighties with June serving alongside him, the two mentoring students and young couples who were preparing for vocational ministry.
Remembering the life of Dr. Delnay back in 2020, Dr. Kevin Bauder described June’s significance to Robert’s ministry: “She was more than a wife to him: they were really partners in ministry. . . . Together the two of them modeled a life of faithful commitment to the Lord and to each other, becoming an object lesson in delightful fidelity to their students” (“A Life Well Spent,” In the Nick of Time, June 19, 2020).
In their final years, the Delnays retired to Sebring, Florida. They were married for 69 years. Dr. Delnay met his Savior face-to-face on June 14, 2020. Now, June also is in the presence of the One she loved and served steadfastly. We who remain behind grieve the loss of Mrs. June Delnay, yet we rejoice that she has finished her race, having run well.