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The Rev. Marcus Avery Earp III, 83, a retired Elder, died July 11 at his home in Hedgesville, W. Va. The Rev. George Earle officiated at a funeral service at the Brown Funeral Home in Inwood, W. Va., July 15.

He graduated from Marshall University and earned his Master of Divinity degree at Wesley Theological Seminary. He had served with the U.S. Naval Reserve and Civil Air Patrol.

He and Joyce Smith married in 1950. They had two children who survive.

Earp began his ministerial career in the West Virginia Conference in 1956. He was ordained an Elder in the Baltimore-Washington Conference in 1961. In 1960, he was appointed to Smithville in Baltimore and two years later to Fork. In 1964 he was appointed to Eutaw in Baltimore and stayed until 1969 when he moved to Brooklyn Heights UMC. In 1973, he was appointed to Asbury UMC in Charles Town, W. Va., then in 1980 to the Damascus-Friendship Charge. His last appointment was to Patapsco in Dundalk in 1987 where he remained until he retired in 1992. Retirement was not the end of his ministerial career. He served at John Wesley UMC in Hagerstown for a number of years, and recently worked with Earle in Hedgesville.

Earp was a member of the Maryland Bible Society.

Survivors include his wife, Joyce Smith Earp; a son, Marcus Avery Earp IV of Herndon, Va., and a daughter, Kathryn Denise Spradling of Chambersburg, Pa.; two grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Condolences may be sent to Joyce Earp, 692 Sleepy Creek Road, Hedgesville, WV 25427-3006.