Rev. Stephen F. Long, a resident of Milford and former resident of Pontiac, died on December 3, 2013 after a battle with cancer.

 

Born on April 23, 1943 in Miami, Florida, the son of Samuel Charles Long and Sarah Louise Little, Stephen grew up in Miami where he was a part of his high school’s State Championship basketball team.  A gifted athlete, he went on to study at the University of Florida in Gainesville where he starred on the football team and was offered a contract from the Dallas Cowboys.  He went on to become a successful businessman before his call to enter the Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

 

It was in Indianapolis that Stephen met Sandra Cox.  They fell in love and married in April of 1975 at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Martinsville, Indiana.  Stephen completed his studies and Master of Divinity at Concordia Theological Seminary in 1993, and worked at the seminary's Development Office for a time while Sandra finished her schooling.  Soon after they moved to Taylor, Michigan where Rev. Long took a call to serve at St. John Lutheran Church.  He was Senior Pastor there for over eleven years, after which he spent two years at Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word in Rochester Hills until his health was interrupted with a stroke.  He and Sandra moved to Milford two years ago and joined the church family at Our Savior Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hartland, where Rev. Long was deeply moved and honored by the opportunities he was given to preach on several occasions.