Rev. Whitehead Dies; Founded Rescue Mission

SANTA ANA —  The Rev. Lewis Whitehead, founder and former director of the Orange County Rescue Mission, died Saturday at the Long Beach Naval Medical Center. He was 63.

“He was the principal man that kept the people in the county aware that there was a homeless problem here,” said Thomas Whaling, board member and attorney for the Rescue Mission.

During the late 1970s, Whitehead went before the Santa Ana City Council many times to protect his center, which stood in the way of downtown redevelopment plans. The mission was finally relocated to its present site at 1901 W. Walnut Ave.

Whitehead began ministering to the poor in the mid-1960s near the end of a 20-year career in the Marine Corps, Whaling said.

In 1965, Whitehead served Orange County’s poor under different organizational names, according to Whaling, until finally forming the Rescue Mission in 1979, he said.

Rob Martin, past executive director of the Rescue Mission, said: “I’ll always reflect on his big heart. I consider him one of Orange County’s genuine heroes.

“I remember in the 1960s he got blankets and food together and went to the transients that hung out in the Santa Ana River and handed out the stuff,” Martin said. “He just cared for people. He was an evangelist of the poor. He felt you just couldn’t preach. You had to give tangible love too.”

From 1975 to 1990, the mission’s annual budget grew from $45,000 to more than $1 million. It is funded by donations and trust grants, Whaling said. The mission serves about 70 homeless men a night, providing beds, food and programs designed to get them off the street permanently, he said.

“He was a very compassionate man,” Whaling said. “A man who was very concerned not only about the physical well-being but the spiritual well-being.”

Also in the 1970s, Whaling said, Whitehead organized the United Christians to bring together the various denominations in Orange County and break down the barriers.

Whaling said Whitehead apparently died from complications arising from diabetes.

A wake will be held today at 3 p.m. at the Brown Colonial Mortuary at 204 W. 17th St., Santa Ana.

Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Rescue Mission in Santa Ana. The burial will be at the Fairhaven Memorial Park on 1702 E. Fairhaven Ave. A reception will follow at 2 p.m. at the Rescue Mission in Santa Ana.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the Rescue Mission to the Lewis Whitehead Memorial Fund, which was established Wednesday.

Whitehead is survived by his wife, Merdis, five children, and eight grandchildren.