June Lewis Elliott

June Lewis Elliott, 93, peacefully entered the presence of her beloved Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, on Monday, August 3, 2026, after a long and faithful life marked by unwavering devotion to Jesus and a deep love for people. She was joyfully welcomed home.

June was born on June 28, 1933, in Savanna-la-Mar, Jamaica, to Ernest Segre-Lewis and Aileen Polack Lewis. She spent her childhood in Jamaica before moving to the United States to attend Hunter College in New York. She later made her home in New York, Connecticut, Iowa, and Virginia.

June received a full scholarship to Hunter College, where she graduated cum laude with a degree in Economics. She began her career as secretary to the president of a Fortune 500 company on Wall Street before later earning a teaching certificate and becoming an elementary school teacher in New York and Connecticut.

June never stopped learning. She completed practical ministry training at Rhema Bible Training College, earned a Master of Theology from Shalom Bible College and Seminary, and continued studying Scripture throughout her life, including coursework in Hebrew through the University of Jerusalem. Her mind remained as sharp, curious, and engaged in her nineties as it had been in her youth.

Fifty years ago, June began what would become the greatest adventure of her life when she surrendered her heart to Jesus Christ and became a born-again, Spirit-filled Christian. That decision transformed every part of her life and, through her faithful witness, impacted countless family members, friends, neighbors, and people she met only once. Anyone who spent time with June was likely to receive healing prayer, words of encouragement or prophetic insight, wise counsel, unconditional love, and unwavering support.

She loved the Word of God, delighted in teaching it, and never tired of encouraging others in their faith. A gifted Bible teacher, speaker, pastor, prophet, and intercessor, she devoted her life to helping others know Jesus more deeply and to walk faithfully with Him.

Prayer was the quiet rhythm of June's life. She faithfully prayed for people by name; for towns, communities, states, and nations; for leaders around the world; for unreached people groups and the persecuted church. She followed world events closely because she believed that understanding what was happening in the world helped her pray more faithfully for it, and because she believed every nation and every person was precious to God.

June co-founded the ministries Servants of the King and Pure Hearts, co-pastored Shiloh Christian Fellowship and Christian Life Fellowship in Connecticut, led countless prayer gatherings, vigils, Bible studies, and home groups, and ministered both locally and internationally. Her travels took her to Israel, Turkey, Syria, China, Hong Kong, Costa Rica, and many other places as she faithfully followed wherever God led.

She was also the author of Pure Hearts: A Journey Into Restoration, reflecting her lifelong passion to see lives transformed by the love and truth of Jesus Christ.

June loved America deeply, and becoming a United States citizen was a great joy and proud accomplishment. She voted in every election, volunteered in grassroots local and state government, and believed faithful citizenship was one way of loving her adopted country. Together with her beloved husband, Earl, she sponsored her mother, brothers, sister, and their families to immigrate to the United States, where they built new lives and flourished.

June shared 37 wonderful years of marriage with the love of her life, Earl Louis Elliott, before he went home to be with Jesus. Together they built a life centered on family, faith, ministry, and hospitality, investing deeply in every community they called home and working to make each one a better place for those around them.

Among their happiest years were those spent pursuing God's call together. When Earl stepped away from a long career in electronics and a successful business he co-founded to attend Bible College, June eagerly joined him. They walked hand in hand to class each day, Earl faithfully carrying her books while June dreamed of all God had in store. It was a season filled with hope, purpose, laughter, and the shared joy of serving Christ side by side. Those dreams would later find expression as they pastored and planted a church in Connecticut, serving together in the calling God had placed on both their hearts.

For the final three decades of her life, June divided her time between the homes of her daughter, Dawn, in Iowa, and her son, Stephen, in Virginia, where she was surrounded by the love of family, friends, and her church communities, while also cherishing holidays, family celebrations, and special times with her son, Richard, and his family.

June was a longtime member of Chesapeake Vineyard and Big House Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines, Iowa. In each of these church communities, she worshiped, taught, encouraged, and invested in others. She also loved attending her son Richard’s church, Horizon Christian Fellowship in Indianapolis, when she visited.

Known affectionately by many as "Mama June," she had a remarkable gift for making every person feel like family. Her warm hugs, radiant smile, infectious laugh, unwavering faith, and confidence in God's goodness left an enduring imprint on countless lives.

While thousands knew June through her life and ministry, those closest to her knew that her greatest earthly joy was her family. She delighted in tracing family history, preserving genealogies, and passing stories from one generation to the next. She found immeasurable joy in watching her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren grow, faithfully encouraging and praying for each one throughout their lives. She rarely missed a piano recital, ballet performance, school event, or sporting event when one of her grandchildren was involved. According to June, she had the very best children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren in the entire world—and no one would have dared try to convince her otherwise.

She is survived by her daughter, Dawn and Richard Cook of Iowa; her son, Richard and Kristin Elliott of Indiana; and her son, Stephen and Stacy Elliott of Virginia; her grandchildren, Joel Elliott; Keren and Aaron Thien; Catherine Elliott; Kristin Thompson; Anna and Jacob Kucera; Hope and Dylan Campbell; Kirsten Elliott; Lauren and Ryan Burns; and Samuel Elliott; her great-grandchildren, Fiona and Isaac Thien; her sister, Cherry Urich; her brothers, Robert Segre-Lewis and Maureen, and Anthony Lewis and Vivette; her sister-in-law, Dina Lewis; and many beloved nieces, nephews, extended family members, dear friends, and her cherished prayer partner, Alice Bergeron.

June was preceded in death by her parents, Ernest and Aileen Segre-Lewis; her beloved husband, Earl Louis Elliott; her daughter, Robin Elliott; her granddaughter, Erin Thompson; her sister, Patricia Lewis; her brother, Michael Lewis; and her nephew, Peter Tomlinson.

Though her family grieves her absence, they rejoice in the promises of Jesus that sustained June throughout her life. Her race is finished, her faith has become sight, and she has been joyfully welcomed into the presence of the Savior she loved, served, and proclaimed for five decades.

June's family will celebrate her life with a private burial service at McLaren's Resthaven in West Des Moines, Iowa. A Celebration of Life service will be held at New Life Church Ghent Campus, 1420 Colonial Ave., Norfolk, Virginia, at 3 p.m. on August 30. Those who are unable to attend in person are warmly invited to join via the livestream.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the Big House Time To Build Campaign (Time To Build Campaign), the Food Pantry at Lutheran Church of Hope (Hope Food Pantry), or the Heritage Classic Golf Tournament, which raises funds to support those affected by multiple sclerosis. (Heritage Classic).

Most of all, if you wish to honor June’s memory, she would encourage you to say “yes” to Jesus. Nothing would bring her greater joy.